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The monster Volkswagen Touareg R50 is now on sale in the UK, retailing at a price of £61,885 (RRP OTR), a premium of £3,885 over the normal Altitude V10 TDI Touareg.

The price premium comes from tune-ups such as an uprated 5.0 liter V10 TDI engine putting out 350 PS instead of the normal 313 PS – the engine hits this at 3,500rpm, and 750Nm of torque instead of the normal 650Nm, yet puts out the same CO2 emissions as the normal V10 TDI, which is 333g/km.

Other than the engine, the R50 is also differentiated from the Touareg Altitude V10 by its 21 inch Omanyt design wheels, Touareg R-design bodykit, wheel arch extensions, blue brake calipers, and R logos on the pedals, door sills and Nappa sports seats.

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Volkswagen Touareg R50
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Saab’s “Power When You Need It” advertisement shows us small things demonstrating great power – echoing the ability of of downsized turbocharged engines with relatively lower displacements to produce high amounts of power and torque. It’s nothing clever or witty, and maybe even cliche, but the nice background music gives the video a dramatic effect. Video after jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Saab 9-3 Turbo “Power When You Need It”

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The LIghtning GT is an electric sports car by British car manufacturer The Lightning Car Company, and it was announced at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. Development is still underway, and the production version will be ready by mid-2008.

Powered by four 120kW Hi-Pa Drive (from PML Flightlink Ltd) Permanent Magnet brushless motors, the Lightning GT will essentially have all wheel drive and a total of 650 horsepower and a total of 750Nm of torque each, available across the whole rev range due to the nature of electric motors. 0 to 100km/h takes 4 seconds. The motors are about 25kg each and expected weight distribution of the car is 48:52.

Power is stored in 36kW nano lithium titanate “NanoSafe” batteries, which Lightning says can maintain 85% total capacity after 15,000 charges. Aside from plug-in charging capabilities, the car also has regenerative braking. Total range is expected to be about 400km. The Lightning GT is built with a multi-tubular spaceframe, and uses a lightweight carbon fibre/Kevlar composite body. Both front and rear suspension use double wishbones with coil-over shocks.

More photos after the jump.

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General Motors has unveiled the Opel Meriva Concept at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. The Meriva Concept previews the production version of the next generation Opel Meriva, and GM has announced that the rearward opening rear doors will make it to the production version.

View the unveiling video as well as some presentations by GM employees after the jump, and notice they add the word Flex in front of just about anything!

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Opel Meriva Concept at Geneva 2008

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The Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept combines the design language from the Aero X in this revival of the old Saab 9X Concept, Saab’s earlier concept hatchback back at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show. Read more on the concept after the jump.

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This was the car that started it all for BMW’s M division back in 1970s, the BMW M1. It featured a 6-cylinder engine and is the only BMW series sports car with the engine installed in a mid-engine position. The body was designed by Giugiaro, and it was hand-built from 1978 to 1981, with only 456 built. Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: BMW M1 – BMW’s only mid-engined car

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The new W204 Mercedes-Benz C-Class will gain a new specialised range of vehicles known as the BlueEFFICIENCY family. incorporating smart measures and technologies to reduce fuel consumption by up to 12%, while retaining the comfort and safety associated with a Mercedes-Benz.

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Hyundai has given its Hyundai Matrix a facelift for the 2009 model year and the mini-MPV now features Hyundai’s new corporate nose, similiar to the one on the new generation Hyundai i30. There are minimal changes on the rear.

Three engine choices are available – a 103 PS 1.6 liter from the Alpha family of engines, a 128 PS 1.8 liter from the Beta family of engines, and a 1.5 liter CRDi turbodiesel putting out 110 PS. The Malaysian Inokom Matrix is only available with the petrol engines.

More photos and a video after the jump.

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Kia showcased three differently styled concept versions of the Kia SOUL, an upcoming production model set to be launched at the Paris Motor Show this year.

The Kia SOUL Diva is aimed at the conscious young-at-heart woman who regards her car as part of her outfit. The Kia SOUL Burner is the “bad boy”, while the Kia SOUL Searcher is meant to project a sense of tranquility within the urban jungle, somewhat like a comfort zone.

“Because this new Kia model is not a replacement for an existing vehicle and will play a unique role within the Kia range it can be a bit of a rebel! The trio of concepts shown at Geneva are ‘appetisers for the Paris introduction. We are making a bold ‘fun statement to highlight ‘the world of possibilities that this new Kia will bring to the marketplace,” said Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer Kia Motors Europe.

Guillaume led the Kia SOUL Concept trio’s design team, under the guidance of Kia’s Chief Design Office Peter Schreyer. Mr Schreyer is shown above with the concepts.

More photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia SOUL Concepts – Burner, Searcher, Diva

This is the most powerful tune-up of the Ferrari F430 from Novitec Rosso to date, and it is given the name F430 Race. We saw a 656 horsepower version just last year, but Novitec Rossi is back with a 707 horsepower monster thanks to the two superchargers slapped onto the Ferrari F430’s V8 engine. The 707 horses kicks in fully at 8,350rpm, while torque is rated at a peak of 712Nm at 6,300rpm, giving the Novitec Rosso Ferrari F430 Race a 0 to 100km/h time of 3.5 seconds.

The 4.3 liter V8’s two belt-driven superchargers gets upgraded turbine vanes and boost upped to 0.48 bar, which seems rather low but already very decent for the engine thats been force induction, considering the high revs and the high compression ratio. The blown air gets cooled by water-cooled intercoolers, one for each supercharger. Air is sucked in via a new heat-insulated intake manifold with larger ports, and high-performance air filters. On the exhaust side, low-pressure performance catalysts and a high performance stainless-steel exhaust system designed by Novitec Rosso ensures minimal restrictions.

The car rides on 20 inch wheels instead of the standard 19 inchers, and the tyres used are 235/30ZR20 at the front and 325/25ZR20 at the rear from Pirelli. The suspension system is a Novitec Rosso system, which can be raised by 40mm at the push of a button to get past curbs, driveway entries and speed bumps. Once the speed goes past 80km/h, the suspension will lower back to its normal setting automatically, which is 35mm lower than the production F430. This means the car can be raised up to 5mm higher than a production F430.

Prices start at 193,277 Euros for the base version. For existing Ferrari F430 owners, a conversion kit is priced at 51,260 Euros.

Look at more photos after the jump, and also a video featuring the previous F430 tune-up which produces 656 horses.

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