We’ve never been a huge fan of widebody Lamborghinis or Ferraris, but Anderson Germany has actually executed this one properly. They’ve taken your standard Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and decided to make what they call a ‘White Edition’ out of it by widening its body, outfitting it with 20-inch wheels and enhancing horsepower by 40 additional ponies.

Going from the stock 560-hp to 600-hp, Anderson Germany does an ECU modification along with new air filters and a sport exhaust system. An adjustable valve in the exhaust allows the driver to enjoy three different levels of noise. The exhaust also frees up close to 50 lbs of unnecessary weight.

Lowering the vehicle is a sport suspension package which also helps sit the 20-inch three-piece wheels nicely onto the fenders. Up front is a 20×9 wrapped with 245/30/20 while the rear consists of a massive 20×12.5-inch pairing with 325/25/20 rubber. Clearly the rear of this Gallardo has been widened and it is packing some serious rubber.

The widebody aero kit also consists of a new front bumper, side skirts, a rear diffuser and rear spoiler. Inside the white and black theme continues with white carbon details, black Alcantara and black and white leather seats.

GALLERY: Anderson Germany Lamborghini Gallardo White Edition

[Source: GT Spirit]

Aston Martin has opened up a contest to the world to help decide on a name for the British automaker’s new 2011 Le Mans Race Car. For 2011, Aston Martin will be entering a brand new LMP1 car into the Le Mans 24-hour race, and you may be the creative one to give it its name.

The contest is open to the general public, simply hit the source to enter in your first and last name, you email, your suggested name for the race car and the reason behind the name – all in 250 characters or less. The contest will end on January 3rd, 2011 and all finalists and winners will be contacted by Aston Martin. If you just so happen to be the one that comes up with the awesome name, you’ll be winning yourself a range of Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing Merchandise.

Hit the jump and enter, good luck!

[Source: Aston Martin]

Holiday party season is in full swing, and that means you may feel a bit more pressure to raise a glass of cheer to celebrate. It also means that drivers getting behind the wheel after a few too many is also on the rise, and a report out by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 30 million people will drive drunk in an average year while another 10 million get behind the wheel under the influence of drugs.

The study reveals that on average, 13.2 percent of all persons 16 or older drove under the influence of alcohol and 4.3 percent of this age group drove under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year. On a state-by-state analysis, the survey shows that the highest levels of past year drunk driving were Wisconsin (23.7 percent) and North Dakota (22.4 percent). For drugged driving, the highest rates of past year were found in Rhode Island (7.8 percent) and Vermont (6.6 percent). On the lower end of the scale, the states with the lowest rates of past year drunk driving included Utah (7.4 percent) and Mississippi (8.7 percent), while Iowa and New Jersey had the lowest levels of past year drugged driving (2.9 percent and 3.2 percent respectively).

When it comes to younger drives, the levels of self-reported drunk and drugged driving differed dramatically. Drivers aged 16 to 25 had a much higher rate of drunk driving than those 26 or older (19.5 percent versus 11.8 percent). And those in the younger age group also had a much higher rate of driving under the influence of drugs than those aged 26 or older (11.4 percent versus 2.8 percent).

If you’re in Toronto and wanted to get into the holiday spirit, MINI Canada and their happy elves made the trip downtown to let people know they were in the giving mood. In fact, they still are, and want to give you one of three all-new gift-wrapped MINI Countryman models.

MINI and eight happy elves took to the streets of Toronto recently to make some new friends. This was done to promote MINI’s Facebook contest, where fans are invited to see how many friends they can virtually fit into the all-new MINI Countryman (coming to Canada in January 2011).

The contest runs until December 30th and the winner will be announced on January 12th.

“Bringing our virtual contest live to the streets of Toronto lets us interact with our customers and fans in a hands-on and engaging way,” said John Cappella, Director, MINI Canada. “That is what MINI is all about – being extroverted and socially energetic. Our Facebook contest is the epitome of that desire to interact; taking it to the streets is the proof of our energy.”

If you didn’t get a chance to see the elves in action, you can see the pictures and video on MINI Canada’s Facebook page. If you want to enter the contest, visit www.facebook.com/MINI.canada.

With all the flashiness and gaudiness of Fenice Milano’s recent entries to the aftermarket world, it’s refreshing to see that Romeo Ferraris was able to tame the tuner down a built to introduce a nice Abarth 500 to the world. Paying tribute to the legendary race circuit, the Monza edition adds a bit more sport to the Abarth 500 while keeping it mild and clean on the outside.

At quick glance, the aesthetics of the Abarth 500 has most noticeably changed thanks to red and blue racing stripes uniquely placed on the body. The white interior also receives the same-styled stripe treatment. Giving it a little bit more race appeal is a set of 17-inch mesh wheels wrapped with 205/40/17 Yokohama rubber.

Romeo Ferraris’ contribution takes the stock horsepower from 135-hp to a fun-filled 260-hp. Combine that with larger 11-inch Brembo brakes and a full body kit and you’ve got yourself a real winner. But in true Fenice Milano style, each of the 10 Abarth 500 Monzas will receive a brass plaque with the owner’s name, while the interior features an edition number on the shifter and Monza logos throughout.

GALLERY: Abarth 500 Monza

[Source: TopSpeed]

Large panel vans are perhaps the ultimate form of mobile blank canvas – the acres of sheetmetal representing the perfect opportunity to install your own logo. Increasingly, companies are using vehicle wraps to market their product or service on their own vehicles and it’s proven to increase public awareness.

Now, Nissan North America is teaming up with Lakewood, Colorado based Original Wraps Inc. to offer specific wrap applications for customers of the new NV commercial van. Original Wraps has developed a software program that allows owners of Nissan’s new commercial van to create their own logos and designs on the Nissan Commercial Vehicle Website. Once the design has been finalized, it can then be printed on 3M Scotchprint Vinyl and shipped to the customer within 7-10 days ready for installation.

“We’re pleased to offer high quality, customized vehicle personalization with hundreds of different graphic designs created specially for the new Nissan NV,” remarked Joe Castelli, vice president, Nissan Commercial Vehicles and Fleet, NNA. “It’s part of our innovative approach to thinking about how our customers use their vans – including as a vehicle for advertising their company and services.”

The program is scheduled to start in January 2011.

Oh what has this world come to? Former import model, Tila Nguyen, turned reality TV star Tila Tequila, has gotten herself behind the steering wheel of a bright Tiffany Blue Lamborghini Gallardo LP-560.

As much as we find Tila Tequila annoying and tasteless, we have to admit that the bright blue pairs up nicely with the Gallardo LP-560′s lines. Bright colors always seems to do Italian’s hottest exotics justice.

But we digress and hopefully all the little girls out there aren’t looking up to Miss Tila as a role model. Remember girls, you really don’t have to go through the extent of what she did to get yourself a Lamborghini.

At least it’s not pink, right?

[Source: Topspeed]

The Ariel Atom is one of the most pure driving machines on the planet. It has no doors or windows or roof. It’s essentially an exoskeleton shell with all its moving parts exposed to the elements, including the driver.

Since it has very few parts, it is very light and that makes for an incredible track car. This car certainly has its fans and its success has lead to the company now celebrating its 10th anniversary.

For this momentous occasion, Ariel has announced a new model which it is producing in conjunction with Mugen. The special edition Mugen version will feature a modified Honda K20Z motor, which will now produce 270-hp.

Only 10 examples of this model will be produced and it will make its first public debut at the Autosport International Show in January 2011.

[Source: Ariel]

Analysts at Goldman Sachs’ Japanese arm have a dim forecast for Toyota, projecting an operating loss through the 2013 fiscal year, with Goldman predicting continued sales downturns in the United States, Europe and Japan, which comprise Toyota’s three biggest markets.

Toyota sales, hammered hard by recalls earlier in 2010, are not projected to keep pace with a rapidly growing worldwide vehicle market, despite maintaining a foothold as sales leader in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. Sales in China and India are poorer than expected and lag behind many smaller rivals.

While the rising value of the yen has been blamed for decreasing profits for a variety of Japanese auto makers, the Goldman Sachs report unequivocally blamed “weak sales volume” as a cause for Toyotas woes. While the auto market has consistently grown between 8 and 9 percent over the past few years (and will continue to grow at that pace), Toyota has experienced sales drops of 15% in 2009 and 4% in 2010.

Goldman Sachs stated that the upcoming Camry launch in 2011, as well as a small car for the Chinese market, will prove crucial to the company’s recovery.

[Source: Ward's Auto]

Armored cars are an expensive proposition, nearly always costing well above $100,000, and for this reason, they’re rarely anything but luxury sedans or SUVs.

The problem with this phenomenon is that the places where armored cars are really needed, discretion is often better than driving an ostentatious bling-mobile. Texas Armoring, one of the leading armored car manufacturers, has noticed a spike in demand for “ordinary” bulletproof cars, mostly from Mexico, where a war between government officials and drug traffickers have caused unprecedented violence.

The vehicles featured in the video include late model SUVs like the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Ford Excursion, while one rep mentions that cars like the Toyota Camry and Nissan Maxima have also been retrofitted.

Hit the jump to see the video on Texas Armoring

[Source: Jalopnik]

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