Driving down the boulevard in their Italian supercars, wealthy but genuine car enthusiasts face the difficult challenge of separating themselves from the typical playboys in fast cars. To solve this first world problem, HRE performance wheels proposed that there is no better way to add a touch of class to an exotic than by installing performance wheels with vintage flair.

Introducing the new Vintage Series, HRE wheels recreated three iconic designs from the brand’s 34-year history, each of which range from 18- to 20-inches, and are completely re-engineered as 3-piece forged wheels from quality aerospace-grade forged alloy. What’s more, each wheel is hand-finished in order to meet customer’s specifications for their modern exotic.

HRE provided a press gallery to showcase its new wheels installed upon the successors of the same automobiles that once wore the originals. The German racing car roots of the “501″ wheels are instantly recognizable, as its mesh lace design suits the latest viper green Porsche 991 ducktail nicely.  The five-porthole “454″ is a modern take on the wheels from the sensational Lamborghini Diablo and are just as striking to look at when fitted to the new Aventador. Finally, the pentagram design “505″ is a proper ode to the Ferrari F40, although pairing the set of wheels to a Ferrari 458 Spider is slightly clashing.

HRE Wheels President Alan Peltier said, “The process of recreating vintage designs that captured the style and essence of the originals was very exciting and challenging for all of us at HRE. These designs take us all back to the ’70′s and ’80′s when we were kids falling in love with exotics for the first time and truly becoming car lovers. Capturing all the character and magic of these designs, while ensuring they fit modern super cars and met our current engineering standards, made the project tougher than simply creating replicas of the original cast wheels. We found inspiration in those original designs but created wheels that reflect the HRE of today; wheels that are truly inspired.”

Wealthy automotive connoisseurs, rejoice!

GALLERY: HRE Vintage Series

[Source: Autoblog]

Out sneaky photographers have managed to snap spy photos of the upcoming 2013 Porsche Cayman on the streets in Germany.

Camoed-up, the test mule reveals little, although an interior shot does show that the Cayman will borrow from the recently revealed 2013 Boxster when it comes to the interior. (It also reveals the fashion sense of German engineers – check out that sweater).

When it does arrive later this year, also look for familiar engines, with a base 2.7-liter flat-six making around 275 hp, while a larger 3.4-liter on the Cayman S should deliver around 325 hp – a number just ahead of its soft-top counterpart. With the PDK dual-clutch transmission and the Sport Chrono package, the new Cayman S should achieve a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds or less.

Sharing a light weight aluminum chassis with the Boxster, making it both wider and longer than the current car, expect significant weight savings, as well as a big improvement in fuel economy.

GALLERY: 2013 Porsche Cayman Spy Photos

10: Audi TT RS

Classic car insurance company Hagerty has just released its annual list of vehicles that it expects will become the collector cars of the future. The list of “affordable” collector cars is capped at $100,000 and comes on the heels of the annual Scottsdale collector car auction week.

“After more than twenty years of witnessing car-collecting trends, we have the unique ability to look at new cars through the eyes of a collector,” said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty Insurance. “This year’s Hot List includes cars that are sure to develop a cult-like following because their characteristics resonate with driving enthusiasts.”

Starting off the list, and a favorite of ours is the Audi TT RS which retails for $56,850 and is a favorite amongst automotive enthusiasts as an affordable, fun ride without having to indulge into Porsche costs. The TT RS has plenty of global appeal which means it’ll have plenty of global demand down the road. And besides, Audi consistently finds itself at the Le Mans podium; you just can’t argue with success.

A grid of 58 vehicles at the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona made this year’s event one of the most competitive races in the history of the franchise. It was so competitive, in fact, NASCAR star racing driver AJ Allmendinger of the Michael Shank Racing #60 Ford/Riley car only beat Starworks Motorsport’s pole-sitter Ryan Dalziel by 5.198 seconds after 24 hours of heated competition.

After Allmendinger had won the Rolex 24, he described his last stint as, “the most fun three hours of racing I’ve ever done.”

Struggling for a race win at the Rolex 24 ever since 2004, Michael Shank Racing’s remarkable victory got even sweeter when its second Daytona Prototype crossed the line to clinch third and close out the podium. However, the battle between Allmendinger and Dalziel in their last stint was so relentless that the Michael Shank No. 6 sister car driven by Felipe Nasr couldn’t stay with the battle and fell back, finishing the race almost a minute behind. The top-three finishers were all Ford/Riley prototypes.

The #60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley was brought to the checkered flag by A.J. Allmendinger and co-drivers Justin Wilson, John Pew and Oswaldo Negri Jr. Starwork’s impressive 2nd place finish was thanks to the valiant driving performed by Ryan Dalziel and co-drivers Enzo Potolicchio, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish and Alex Popow. Finally, in third place, the sister Michael Shank car was driven by Felipe Nasr, Michael McDowell, Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman.

Porsche is upping the engineering ante with their 2013 911 Turbo, which our spy photographer caught yesterday, to deliver more power and better fuel efficiency all at once.

The new 911 Turbo will keep the same 3.8-liter horizontally opposed six cylinder engine as previous models, but it will have a new boost thanks to a complex tri-turbo setup similar to what BMW is using in the M550d xDrive and X5 M50d models, among others.

The system employs one smaller turbocharger and two larger ones. The smaller spools up more quickly at lower rpms, delivering an initial power boost that carries smoothly into the second and third larger units.

Although the horsepower ratings aren’t certain yet, the new system is expected to boost the 911 Turbo from 495 to 525 horsepower, which is quite close to the 530 hp 911 Turbo S.

Porsche is currently completing testing on the tri-turbo setup inside their 991, though further details can’t be that far off given that it’s slated for the 2013 model year.

GALLERY: 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo spy photos

[Source: Auto Car]

Gemballa is known for some of the world’s most exquisite Porsche creations, and despite turmoil over the last couple of years, they’re looking ahead to the future and celebrating their 30th anniversary in style.

For those that aren’t fortunate enough to afford Gemballa’s real creations, they have had a model car collection of some of their most famous models available for purchase. But now a limited edition series has been released, starring their infamous Mirage GT Blue and MIG-U1 in white. Each model car will only have a limited quantity of 300, each numbered in an individual display. Best of all, the price is only around $76 based on today’s conversion rates and includes VAT and shipping. No idea if they’ll ship all the way to North America, but for two model cars with Gemballa’s prestige and a limited edition behind it, it’s a respectable price tag. If you’re interested, shoot collection@gemballa.com an email.

Vehicles in Gemballa’s other model car collections include their Mirage GT in various colors, their Avalanche GT2, Avalanche GTR, and their Cayenne variants.

GALLERY: Gemballa 30th Anniversary Model Cars Collection

Porsche continues to be a tremendous success story, particularly since the launch of the Cayenne SUV. A vehicle that saved the German sports car maker from bankruptcy, in some markets it now accounts for half of the brand’s sales, raising the question, is Porsche too reliant on the Cayenne?

The answer would seem to be in the affirmative. One shocking statistic comes from last year’s sales figures. Porsche Cars USA posted impressive figures with 29,023 units sold, a solid improvement over 25,320 in 2010. According to a report by automotive statistics firm GoodCarBadCar, if you remove all Cayenne sales from the mix the remaining number is 16,045. What’s so shocking about that? Well, Porsche’s sales in 2002, before the Cayenne joined the fleet, were 21,320 units, meaning that, Cayenne aside, the last time Porsche sold fewer sports cars than they do now was in 1997.

The time in between has seen the addition of the Cayman, hardly a volume seller, but still a factor in propping up the brand’s sports car numbers. And those years prior to 1997 are the pre-Boxster era.

The numbers are negligibly different for 2010 as well, with 16,997 Porsche models sold if you don’t include the 8,343 Cayennes. Subtract the 7,741 Panameras too and you’re left with just 9,256 Porsche sports cars sold. Delete the 7,735 Cayennes from the 2009 sales figures, Porsche’s worst year in over a decade, and you’re left with a slightly better 11,961 total, which includes few (1,247) Panameras. Jumping back another year to pre-recession 2008 and total sales are a more robust 26,035. Delete 11,216 Cayennes and you’re left with 14,819 sports cars.

A key contributing factor to the decrease in Porsche’s sports car sales over the past few years has been lower and lower sales of the 911. In 2007 Porsche sold 13,153 units, dropping to 8,324 in 2008. Jump ahead to 2009 and the number slides further to 6,839 and then just 5,737 units in 2010. It was only last year, with the addition of numerous special edition models and dealers eager to push 2011 models off their lots to make room for the next generation car that 911 sales increased to a few hundred units to just over the 6,000 mark.

Increased sales of the Cayenne and decreased sports car sales could be entirely unrelated events, though there is the possibility that Porsche customers are foregoing cars like the 911 for the Cayenne. Or, there’s the possibility that 911 customers are just going somewhere else entirely.

Based on these numbers it’s not surprising that the brand has announced another sports car to sit between its upcoming flagship 918 and the 911 range. Until that product gets here, the launch of the 2012 911 models and a new Boxster will certainly bolster the brand’s sports car balance sheet.

Since the debut of the new Carrera at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year the P-car faithful have been eagerly anticipating the launch of the next-gen 911 Turbo. That launch date is getting closer with our latest spy photos of the every day exotic giving a closer idea of just what the future holds.

Sharing a wheelbase with the Carrera, the new Porsche Turbo will be roughly 4-inches longer end-to-end and as is obvious from the photos will sport a significantly wider track and accommodate an all-wheel drive system. Of note, the rear spoiler on this test mule appears to be fixed, but expect an automatically-deploying unit on the production model. With the sleeker styling of the new 911 combined with these aggressive new rear haunches, the 911 Turbo is finally beginning to look more like a car that offers supercar levels of performance.

While no details about the upcoming twin-turbo flat-six engine have been released, considering the current Turbo S makes 530 hp we expect no less from the new Turbo. Even 550 hp would be a solid bet. Also, the Turbo could finally see a top speed that reaches the 200 mph mark.

Expect a major overhaul on the 911 Turbo’s interior with significant inspiration from the Panamera.

GALLERY: 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo Spy Photos

Chances are a burnout is pretty far from the picture when you think of a hybrid, but in this case speed is the name of the game.

Last friday we posted a story about a teaser video featuring the Porsche Panamera S Hybrid titled “World’s Fastest Full Hybrid,” but just when you thought the message was clear, an Infiniti M35h showed up in the shiny Porsches’s paint. Well, it’s official: the M35h is faster than the Porsche, meaning it’s the fastest accelerating hybrid in the world.

Just when we thought Audi had a headlock on the cheeky advertising niche, Infiniti jumped up to prove that they too could pull sneaky shenanigans over the competition. The teaser video turned out to be the first little bit of the full clip which, not surprisingly, showcased Infiniti spanking Porsche in a heads up race.

The video is a dramatization, though reading the small print reveals that the company did have Guinness World Redords there to keep things fair. In the end, the M35h scored a 13.41-second quarter mile, though there was no small print to show how Porsche fared. We get verification that Infiniti won the race, though the video isn’t a trustworthy source of the margin of victory.

Regardless, the M35h gets an impressive 39 mpg while managing to hit 60 mph in just 5.9 seconds. That beats the Porsche’s maximum 30 mpg highway by a big margin, meaning the Infiniti takes a win in both columns, something all but the most brand-loyal customers will likely be concerned with. On top of that, opting for the Infiniti, which starts at $53,700 means room in the budget to buy a couple of new economy cars for the kids, versus the $95,000 Porsche price tag.

That said, you should make up your own mind. Watch the video below.

Continue Reading…

Along with the Saab saga, the story of VW‘s attempt to buy Porsche AG has been nothing short of a soap opera, with twists and turns at every juncture. After previous attempts by the Wolfsburg automaker to purchase the remaining shares in the smaller Stuttgart concern fell through, it now appears, the deal may be on again.

Both automakers have talked about consolidation for years, yet when former Porsche CEO Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking’s attempt to buy a larger stake in VW fell through, the tables turned; thanks to German law that required Volkswagen to buy shares in Porsche instead.

However, despite VW currently owning more than 49 percent of Porsche and the two companies sharing an upper management structure, there’s still little in the way of cohesiveness when it comes to operations, each firm doing its own thing when it relates to aspects such as R&D, engineering, manufacturing and sales and marketing. This is something that’s proving particularly troublesome, especially for strategic projects, such as upcoming EV vehicles and new lightweight sports cars.

Now, it appears that greater integration between the two companies might finally become a reality this year, information leaked by sources at VW suggest that Porsche has put in an option to sell its remaining 50.1 percent of shares this November.

If that does come to pass, Volkswagen could purchase Porsche outright by the end of the year, however German tax complexities mean that if an outright purchase were to take place before VW can exercise its own call option on the remaining shares (which would be March at the earliest) the merger would be subjected to higher taxation, not something that either company wants.

Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen and Porsche, is clearly frustrated at the present lack of integration between the two companies, something he reiterated earlier this month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

“We want to cooperate with Porsche in such a way that as many synergies can be leveraged as soon as possible,” he said, “without needing to have a lawyer stand next to a Porsche employee every time he screws something into a Volkswagen or vice-versa.”

[Source: Reuters]