Having just unveiled the new Cooper Coupe, MINI is looking to drive home the car’s performance message by competing with a race-prepped version of the two-door at this weekend’s Nurburgring 24 Hour race.

Prepped for race duty the John Cooper Works Coupe Endurance race car gets all the usual equipment like a serious roll cage and a stripped out interior with just one big Recaro race seat. In all, the weight savings totals over 500 lbs compared to the street-going machine, weighing under 2,200 lbs, compared to 2,735 lbs for the road-going version.

The weight reduction will help the Coupe perform better in all areas, while a bump in horsepower will help pull the MINI out of the apexes and down the straights. In total, the turbocharged 1.6-liter now makes 247-hp and 243 lb-ft of torque, compared to 208-hp and 207 lb-ft in the stock JCW model.

Aerodynamic upgrades are also a part of the package with that unmistakably massive adjustable rear wing and huge rear diffuser, while the windshield has been angled 13 percent downward to reduce drag. As for the suspension, it’s been donated by the MINI Challenge race.

MINI will field two JCW Endurance race cars during this weekend’s 39th running of the Nurburgring 24, with both models competing in the SP 3T class.

GALLERY: MINI John Cooper Works Endurance Race Car

Going out for a drive this summer? Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen. There’s a new study out that warns us that people in the US are more likely to develop skin cancer on the left side of their bodies. And the cause could be driving.

You know how on a nice, warm day, you roll down the window and rest your arm, letting it soak up some rays? Well, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, this could lead to cancer. Using a large government database, researchers from the University of Washington took a look at melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma, two deadly forms of skin cancer. They were surprised to find that when these types of cancers were found on just one side of the body, it showed up predominantly on the left side (that’s more than half of the cases). So what could be the cause? Researchers think that exposure to ultraviolet rays on the driver’s side could be the culprit.

Even though driving with the windows up offers some protection, you can still get burned by the sun. And if you choose to roll it down or take the top off (of your car, that is), your exposure increases. So perhaps applying sunscreen should be made part of your daily routine in the morning. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Less than a day after releasing their GRMN Sport Hybrid Concept, Toyota has announced specs for their sporty new concept, the first vehicle we’ve seen from the brand since the MR2 sports car bowed out earlier in the decade.

Using a 3.5-liter Type 2GR-FXE V6 engine that produces 249 horsepower, the front-mounted electric motor adds another 50 horsepower for a total of 299 horsepower. Torque figures weren’t announced, but curb weight is said to be 3300lbs or less. While the GRMN is no featherweight, the power-to-weight ratio is roughly equivalent to a BMW 135i, which is certainly no slouch.

The GRMN will make its debut at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring race, and will also appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

GALLERY: Toyota GRMN Sport Hybrid

Top Gear’s new series will start in a few days and car enthusiasts around the world are eagerly marking off their calendars.

So far we know that James May will be showing us the new Aston Martin Virage,and Jeremy Clarkson will be comparing the McLaren MP4-12C to the Ferrari 458 Italia. We also see the BMW 6-series up against the Mercedes-Benz CL and we hear Richard Hammond talk to Clarkson about Chevrolet Corvettes. This is the second commercial to be released and the show will be airing the first episode on June 26.

Check out both videos after the jump!

Continue Reading…

Evidently, the third time wasn’t the charm for Think, the Norwegian manufacturer of small electric vehicles. The company has gone bust for the fourth time in its 20 year history. Think attempted to restructure, but was ultimately not successful.

“We needed some additional funding and although we had interested investors they were not able to come to table quickly enough,” Think spokesman James Andrews said to Automotive News Europe. Think will either be sold or have its assets liquidated.

Production of the Think City, the company’s sole model, was suspended in March. Just 1,043 were sold in 2010. Think was sold by Ford Motor Co in 2003 and has sold ever since. Think operates in North America, but its future is in doubt due to its reliance on the firm’s Norwegian operations.

[Source: Automotive News]

Production will end for the Ford Ranger on December 22, according to the United Auto Workers 879 June-August newsletter. The Ranger is currently built in Ford’s Twin Cities assembly plant and the truck has been built since January 1982.

The Ranger originally replaced the Ford Courier which was based on the Mazda B-Series small truck. The Ranger was built to work hard, achieve decent gas mileage and compete against small Japanese and American trucks like the Datsun,  Toyota and Chevrolet pickups. So far, more than 7 million Ranger trucks have been built since first produced.

Ford has yet to announce a replacement for the Ranger. So far the F-150 has a new 3.7-liter V6 that is most comparable to the outgoing vehicle. However, an all-new Ford Ranger goes on sale later this year for markets outside of North America.

[Source: Pickup Trucks]

Color choice tends to be an extremely personal subject when it comes to purchasing a car, and with 40% of respondents stating that they’d walk out of a dealer if they couldn’t get a car in their hue of choice, Ford is hard at work at the next generation of paint schemes.

Ford engineers tend to have a 3-year timetable when it comes to choosing new colors, and the company is already trying to determine what will be popular in the coming years. The 2000′s saw white and grey as popular shades, but Ford is betting on vibrant colors like Ruby Red and a “Candy Blue” as being among the next big hits. A Ford press release states that the next big things will be “complex metallics, tinted clearcoats, tri-coats and neutrals.”

Vehicles like the Focus and Fiesta, with their range of bright blues, lime greens and magentas should provide a clue as to the company’s future direction. But research still shows that white, blue, grey and silver are the most popular colors, with silver being the global favorite.

MINI has been know to have fun with their commercials and they definitely pulled it off with their newest ad.  In this latest commercial entitled “Another Day. Another Adventure” the coupe tours around through Iceland, Rio De Janiero and Hong Kong in less than a week.

The cars goes through a series of parades, parties and adventures, picking up different passengers along the way. The slogan in the video is; “no matter where you are, no matter where you are going, adventure will find you”. It’s a fun, happy commercial and the coupe looks great from every angle.

Three different trims will be offered with the Coupe including the standard Cooper, Cooper S and the high performance John Cooper works model.  The base model will start at $22,000 and have a 121-hp engine. The S model will start at $25,300 and gets a turbocharged 181-hp engine. The steroid infused JCW model will start at $31,900 and produce 208-hp, also through a turbocharged engine.

Check out the commercial after the jump!

Gallery: MINI Coupe

Continue Reading…

Should Maserati build an SUV? Well, that doesn’t really matter because they will and it won’t be what you’re expecting. One would imagine the SUV would be dripping in fine Italian materials but the underpinnings of this truck will be very American. The  vehicle will be based on the brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, but insiders have said it will be hard to spot the resemblance. The interior will be fitted with plush Italian leather as well as wood accents throughout the inside.

Under the hood will be a Chrysler HEMI 6.4-liter V8 producing 465-hp. While Maserati already has their own 4.7L V8, the reality is that the HEMI already fits in the platform quite well and will help keep the cost of the vehicle down. The well regarded Fiat V6 diesel will also be available on the Cherokee platform.

The SUV will be the fourth model to join the Maserati lineup, and production will begin in 2013 at the Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit.

[Source: Top Gear]

Volkswagen has said that it wants the new Beetle to appeal to a more masculine demographic. So what do they do to achieve that? Show it off in a Britney Spears video.

The latest video, “I Wanna Go,” shows a bright red Volkswagen Beetle being assaulted by Spears’ bodacious hips—in some elaborate, Terminator-inspired setpiece with a Karmann Ghia that gets sprayed with milk. Apparently.

If Volkswagen wants to balance out the Beetle’s manliness, then, they could build a monster truck out of it, or place it in a Ted Nugent video. Click the jump to see the video in its entirety.

Continue Reading…