Ram‘s new Laramie Limited luxury package pickup bowed yesterday at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show in true American fashion: with a pretty girl smiling at its’ side.

“The launch of the Ram Laramie Longhorn edition gave us a boost in the ultra-premium pickup segment and exceeded our expectations,” said Fred Diaz, President and CEO of the Ram Truck Brand. “Ram Laramie Limited offers customers an even wider selection of luxury models. We expect a lot of interest in the Laramie Limited.”

The Laramie Limited is to be one of two high-end packages available from Dodge subsidiary, Ram. It offers customers the luxury found in their Longhorn version, but without the cattle rancher theme that might scare people away who don’t wear ten gallon hats.

Style-wise,  you get a body colored front fascia, fog lamps, a chrome grill and 20-inch forged aluminum wheels. All HEMI, Cummins, and Ram badges are also replaced by small “Limited” badges. Climb into the cab and you’ll find the interior dressed in leather and lined with greystone piping. The center stack wears a piano black high gloss and gets chrome vent rings with liquid graphite side bezels.

Luxury features are also abound here, including a remote start system, backup camera, a heated steering wheel, adjustable pedals and front vented seats to keep you cool on those hot summer days at the job site. Don’t worry, we won’t tell the guys you’re using them.

GALLERY: RAM Laramie Limited

BMW is proving again that a smaller engine doesn’t need to mean less oomph after announcing that the 2013 X-Series will be switching to a 4-cylinder engine.

The company will start producing their new X-Series crossovers this April. The biggest change for American consumers will be the single horsepower boost the 2013 BMW X3 xDrive28i will get despite the downsized engine. BMW decided to swap out the old naturally-aspirated inline six-cylinder that made 240 horsepower for a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four that puts out 241 horsepower.

The more powerful 300 hp version, however, will get the same turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6. Both versions are probably a good thing because the push toward a smaller engine means the lower-end X3 will get a bit of a boost in gas mileage, putting it in line with the 2.0-liter turbocharged Audi Q5, while still achieving more horsepower.

[Source: Inside Line]

Race circuits crafted from Finland’s finest snow and ice await the one percent next month as Bentley announces its 2012 Power on Ice Adventure.

We strongly suggest attendance if you can get past the almost $11,275 dollar starting price without having an aneurysm. That said, it sure will be fun. It’s not every day you get to take your choice of a Bentley Continental GT coupe or Continental Supersports coupe on a track.

“The circuits are crafted from snow and ice and are unlike any other track or road you have seen before,” says Peter Barnes a senior instructor with Bentley Driving.

Should you decide to participate in some of the world’s most luxurious shenanigans, you’ll have somebody like Barnes in the passenger seat.

“Power on Ice mixes the pure exhilaration of slaloming a Bentley supercar on a purpose-built course or taking a spin around a ‘figure of eight’ track, with the opportunity to acquire advanced techniques from a personal instructor, that will enable drivers to handle their cars with confidence even in the harshest weather conditions,” Peter said.

Bentley says their cars are well suited for such driving. Their all-wheel drive system normally has a 40-60 rear-wheel bias to give a sporty feel but according to the company can instantly adjust to provide maximum grip. We’ll leave it up to someone else to test that in a hard corner.

Power on Ice was first established in 2005, and has been a chance for anyone to try their hand behind the Bentley wheel every year since, or at least that’s what the company says.

It’s true that anyone may participate, but whether they can is an entirely different matter. The starting price for the event would absorb 78 percent of a minimum wage worker’s salary, and that doesn’t include paying for a flight to Finland. The premium package costs just over $13,600, but at least we can still dream.

It turns out that owning a Rolls-Royce isn’t rare enough on it’s own for the majority of people buying these ultra-luxury cars.

No, the people willing and able to shell out for the best of the best seem to be afraid the valet will confuse their Ghost with the others outside the country club. According to the company, 56 percent of Rolls-Royce Ghosts and Ghost Extended Wheel Base Models featured a bespoke design in 2011.

The Ghost is actually a late-comer to the bespoke game as far as the Rolls-Royce family is concerned. The company sells a healthy chunk of their cars to the Middle East, where 99 percent of Phantoms sold featured bespoke designs.

“It is always our goal to exceed our clients’ highest expectations and fulfill their innermost desires,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce CEO. “With highly bespoke Phantom and Ghost models, we are able to achieve this. The passion with which our bespoke craftspeople create these beautiful cars is reflected in some truly outstanding examples delivered across the globe last year.”

The company is on an upwardly bespoke trend: demand increased an average of almost 35 percent over the last six years worldwide. North America actually represents the most rapidly increasing demand, increasing 54 percent over that time period, though the Middle East is the highest overall with 99 percent demand for bespoke vehicles.

So what’s all this fuss about? Well, Rolls-Royce makes it their business to bend over backwards to ensure client satisfaction. Your new Rolls can come with paint of your choice, tread plates, champagne sets or even a picnic set for those balmy Sunday afternoons in the park.

GALLERY: 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost

Anticipation for the new Ferrari F620, successor to the 599, is mounting again thanks to a new YouTube video offering an early look at the veiled supercar.

If you haven’t been keeping up to speed, no pun intended, with the numbers surrounding this Italian road demon, revel in this: it’s powered by the FF’s 6.3-liter V12, pumping out more than 700 ponies. Though we can’t comment on exactly what the F620 is going to look like, it’s evident that the basic body characteristics will be the same as the 599 it will replace.

Even draped in black cloth meant to mask specific traits, it resembles a sprinter about to launch on a track. To watch some footage of the F620 out cruising click here. The video isn’t particularly inspirational, but it’s better than still photos. You also get to hear a healthy dose of the exhaust note, which is a scintillating experience for any fanboy.

We’ll bring you the full details during our coverage of the 2012 Geneva Auto Show starting March 6. And check out our spy pics below.

GALLERY: 2013 Ferrari F620

Mark Zuckerberg, the introverted king of social media, has his fingers in so many pies that it’s starting to look like he grew a few thousand extra hands.

To be fair, it’s not so much Zuckerberg having a hand in Mercedes as it is Mercedes integrating Facebook into their new cars. Nonetheless, the fact that it’s happening and that this isn’t the first instance, means Facebook is evolving far beyond anything other social media tools creators could have fathomed.

We published a story late last week that talked about Mercedes’ mbrace2 technology, but at the time there wasn’t as much information as there is after the company elaborated.

Since then we’ve learned that the cloud-based apps previously mentioned will include Google, Yelp and -you guessed it- Facebook.

Feel free to debate the merits of checking your friends newsfeed or status update in the comments below, wasn’t that part of why we all started buying smart phones?

Regardless, other manufacturers are doing it, and Mercedes insists their adoption of the technology is just representative of staying on the cutting edge. Aside from keeping up with your BFF’s latest relationship quibbles, mbrace2 will let you stay up to date on news and events via a real-time concierge service.

Some people might look at this and feel a pang of nostalgia for when cars ran on gas, got fixed with wrenches and had little more than a spare tire and owners manual packaged with it from the dealer. Then again, the allure of being constantly connected could prove to be a seller. Expect mbrace2 in the MY13 SL-Class.

Remember the Chrysler TC by Maserati? It was an American car with some Italian influence and the end result was simply awful.

Let’s hope this alliance will bear better fruit this time around, as Maserati is set to unveil their Kubang SUV concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month.

The Kubang, which will be the first SUV to wear a Maserati badge, will be based on the chassis of the Jeep Grand Cherokee. While power will be provided by an Italian engine (Maserati uses Ferrari engines in their cars), the vehicle is expected to be produced in America at Chrysler’s Jefferson North facility.

The Kubang concept was last seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September, and while we cannot confirm if the Detroit unveil will be of the same vehicle or something different, we do know that Maserati will unveil an SUV at the N.A.I.A.S.

Put the two together and its easy to figure out that possibly a more production ready version of the Kubang will bow in Detroit.

We will be covering the Detroit auto show and will bring you all the latest news from the show, as it happens.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

There’s something really Chinese about the Volvo Concept You but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. And I’m actually Chinese.

That there is an oriental feel shouldn’t be a surprise. The Concept You is an evolution of the Concept Universe revealed earlier this year at Auto Shanghai earlier this year. Volvo sought the input of a number of potential Chinese customers at the Shanghai show, and a lot of those ideas were carried over into the You.

Volvo is, of course, now part of China’s Zheijiang Geely Motor Holdings, and part of the company’s focus is on capitalizing on the emerging luxury car market in the world’s most populous country.
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Mercedes-Benz revealed its hydrogen-powered gullwing F 125! luxury car concept, offering a glimpse at what the company’s vehicles will look like in the year 2025.

The F 125! – named for Mercedes-Benz’s 125th anniversary – illustrates the company’s styling direction for the next decade and beyond while also highlighting Mercedes-Benz’s commitment to developing hydrogen-powered technology. Mercedes foresees a range of 1,000 km (621 miles) for the F 125! thanks to the combination of the car’s fuel cell drive system and plug-in technology. Helping to increase the range is a new hydrogen storage unit which integrates the hydrogen tank with the floor assembly. In addition to the hydrogen storage unit, the F 125! uses a 10 kWh lithium-sulfur battery stored behind the rear seats. The battery can provide enough power for a range of 50 km (31 miles).

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