When violence erupts in the streets, it’s always the innocent bystanders that have the most to lose. In this case, the only bystander (thankfully) was an Audi R8 and nobody else, but still…why?!

German police chased a man in his supercar after a domestic dispute between him and his wife. The man started opening fire, and police had no choice but to unload on the poor bastard—plugging his car with 37 bullet holes and dramatically lowering its resale value. The man was shot four times and still managed to live, proving something about the tenacity of stupidity, or whatever it is. Nobody else was injured otherwise.

Michael Bay could not be reached for comment.

[Source: Wrecked Exotics]

What’s the most American car? The Ford Mustang? Chevy Camaro? Dodge Charger? Nope. It’s the Toyota Camry.

According to the annual Cars.com American-Made Index the Camry tops the list once again (for the third straight year) due not only to having its production based in American (at both the Georgetown, Ky. and Lafayette, Ind. Toyota plants), but because 80 percent of its parts are also made-in-America. To qualify for the list a vehicle has to have at least 75% of its parts made in the U.S.A. The Cars.com index also accounts for a high volume of sales, which helps put the Camry ahead as it is the best-selling car in America.

The second spot on the list also goes to another Japanese automaker, Honda, and the Accord. Finally, in third place, is a domestic automaker, GM, with the Chevy Malibu. Rounding out the top five are the Ford Explorer and another Honda, the Odyssey minivan.

Click here to read AutoGuide’s Toyota Camry Review

From the Adventures in Advertising files come a series of ads for Kia that are evidently too racy for their cars (that themselves aren’t).

The ads hail from Brazil, where you think they would have an eye for this sort of thing. But Kia, a family-friendly carmaker with a full line of family-friendly toddler schleppers, is distancing itself from these cartoons that depict two things: a safe, innocent fairy tale on the left, and a hotter version on the right that leads into the back page of Oui. The ads are supposed to tout Kia’s dual-zone climate controls, which may require a stretch of the imagination that advertising bloggers possess in spades.

Kia Motors America has made it painstakingly clear (through a press release) that they don’t want or have anything to do with all of this sexy sex business, and that their cars do not represent the sort of sexy sexiness that these highly sexual, sex-laden ads are sexily promoting.

“Kia Motors America (KMA) has become aware of an offensive piece of advertising material that was created by an ad agency in Brazil that KMA has no business relationship with and has never worked with,” reads the release. “This ad was not created in the U.S. by Kia Motors America or any of its marketing partners and does not reflect the opinions or values of KMA or Kia Motors Corporation. The ad is undoubtedly inappropriate, and on behalf of Kia Motors we apologize to those who have been offended by it. We can guarantee this advertisement has never and will never be used in any form in the United States, and our global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea is addressing the issue with the independent Brazilian distributor.”

For Kia, it’s back to hamsters—possibly the least sexy of animals—and the fact that these cartoons would break down into cognitive dissonance against the wholesomeness of Yo Gabba Gabba, a children’s show that does not feature sultry schoolgirls with exposed belly buttons. Yet.

Click the jump to get a peek at the titillating ads. But no touching.

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Apparently shiny gold wraps are already out of style, and in the land of bold and flashy cars, a matte gold Nissan GT-R has surfaced. And surprisingly, this GT-R in Dubai, UAE looks pretty darn good in its matte gold shade.

Your first assumption, probably much like ours, would be that any gold GT-R has no place on this planet. And while it still might be a little too bold for some, we’ll be happy to admit that the matte gold goes really well with the GT-R. Something about it gives the GT-R a little bit of class and luxury, despite it being a very powerful and sporty machine. We could just imagine how killer this car would look if it had some suspension mods to lower it on a set of 20-inch wheels sporting a gold face.

GALLERY: Matte Gold Nissan GT-R

[Source: Autogespot via GTSpirit]

Audi donated two chrome R8s for the Elton John Aids Foundation that were auctioned off at the annual White Tie and Tiara Ball on Thursday June 23rd.

The first R8 sold for £250,000, but interest was so strong that a second version was provided by Audi UK, that also sold for a similar amount. The second example also attracted a high bid value and was then generously submitted for a second time, raising a total of £620,000.

“We are absolutely delighted to have been instrumental in raising such a magnificent sum for Sir Elton’s charity,” commented Jeremy Hicks, Director of Audi UK. “We couldn’t, of course, have done so without the incredible generosity of Sir Elton’s guests, to whom we owe an enormous vote of thanks” he added.

The R8 Spyders feature a fully-automatic lightweight fabric hood and was the 5.2-liter V10 version producing 525-hp with a manual transmission and can hit 194mph and achieve a 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation is amongst the ten largest AIDS grant-making organisations in the world, currently managing over £14 million in programmes across 15 countries helping thousands of men, women and children with life-saving medication, education, shelter and support.

Gran Turismo’s creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, has taken his GT500 “Stealth” GT-inspired Nissan GT-R to a class victory at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. Complete with his team comprised of Tobias Shulze, Michael Schulze and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto, the GT-R battled through a dramatic race full of mechanical issues to claim 36th overall, but first-in-class.

This is a great follow-up to Yamauchi’s class victory last year in a Lexus IS-F in the four-hour Nurburgring VLN race, but this year he didn’t have to settle for fourth place in his class. Despite having to spend time in the pits addressing their mechanical issues, the time was able to officially complete 134 laps in 24 hours, 2 minutes and 26.9 seconds with a fastest lap time of 9:17.707.

Now if only his team of developers could work that quickly on Gran Turismo 6. Check out a video of the GT-R in early Sunday morning action after the break.

[Source: GT Planet]

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The Lexus LFA may sport one of the highest price tags in the exotic car market, but until now it’s been missing an all-important Nurburgring lap time.

Lexus has never released an official time for the car, but leading up to this past weekend’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring, the Toyota luxury arm took a Nurburgring Edition LFA for an exhibition hot lap. Even though it wasn’t classified as a full-on attempt, Gazoo Racing driver Akira Iida put in an impressive 7:22.85 in the LFA, putting it in 10th place overall on the fastest production vehicle list.

With that time being three seconds off the Corvette ZR1, which costs just a third of the price, even Lexus fanboys aren’t thumping their chests. That may soon change, however, with reports that there are plans for an official run in the future.

Was Iida going balls-to-the-wall, or was he sand bagging? Time will tell.

[Source: LexusEnthusiast]

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Speed Channel is gearing up to release The Car Show, a talk show led by Adam Carolla, Dan Neil, John “Spider” Salley and AutoGuide contributor Matt Farah.

The show hits the air on July 13. In the short clips released, the hosts tell us about their very first vehicles and driving experiences, ranging from a Honda 400 Four in the case of Adam Carolla to Matt Farah’s 1993 Mercury Villager LS. Oh Matt, look how far you’ve come.

Check out all the hosts stories of their first cars after the jump!

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Whether you know Ken Block from his infamous Gymkhana videos, or his other antics, there’s no denying his penchant for causing a stir among automotive enthusiast. And this time he got a lot of people’s attention simply by posting a photo on his Facebook profile and adding this as its caption: “Testing one of my ‘secret projects’ in the UK right now, the “Hybrid”. Who says the word “hybrid” has to mean boring?”

Now there’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that every automotive manufacturer developing hybrids right now want to push the technology and platform to the general consumer. So does this mean that Ford is working with Block to promote a Fiesta hybrid? Or maybe Ken’s definition of a hybrid is shoving in the STi’s powerplant under the hood of a Ford Fiesta. We’re sure it’s just a matter of time before Block reveals “The Hybrid” in its full glory.

[Source: Ken Block's Facebook]

While Nobuhiro Tajima’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak has been capturing all the attention after finally breaking the sub-1o minute mark for the first time ever, but another record was set at the famed Colorado mountain this weekend in something much more accessible to mere mortals.

Legendary Porsche shoe Jeff Zwart took a 911 GT2 RS up the mountain in 11:07.869, setting a new record for street legal cars. Zwart’s time was 6 seconds behind Rod Millen’s Hyundai Genesis Coupe race car, which took the overall win in 2WD Time Attack. Zwart noted that “we fell three seconds short of beating an all-out race car that is hundreds of pounds lighter with no street safety or emission equipment,” and felt confident that the record would stand for years to come.

[Source: Motor Trend]