Lamborghini has announced a new special version of the Gallardo LP 550-2 that will be launched on the Malaysian market only. The supercar will be called Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 MLE Limited Edition and will benefit from the lightweight of the Superleggera kit and rear-wheel drive.

Externally, it will have the Gallardo Superleggera kit, with a very aggressive front bumper, new carbon fibre side skirts, new rear diffuser, rear spoiler and new titanium exhaust system. Each car will have a “MLE Limited Edition 20” plaque to commemorate its special edition status.

The Lamborghini Gallardo LME will mount the same 5.2-litre V10 engine with 550 hp as the Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni and will use the same drive system. The Italian supercar is offered in a selection of three unique colours, Arancio Borealis, Verde Ithaca and Blanco Monocerus and will be limited to 20 units only, with a price of 421,400 Euro.

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Audi has released the price list of its new TT RS plus Coupe and Roadster, two models even more powerful and more exclusive than the traditional TT. Prices start from £48,945 to £52,265, £3,085 premium over the TT RS, the power has been boosted by 20hp to 360hp and the torque is up by 15 Nm increasing to 465Nm.

Thanks to the tuned 2.5-litre five-cylinder TFSI engine and seven-speed S-Tronic twin-clutch transmission, the Audi TT RS plus can sprint from 0 to 100km/h in 4.1 seconds for the Coupe and 4.3 seconds of the Roadster. The maximum speed has been increased from 250 (155mph) to 280km/h (174mph), electronically limited. Despite these impressive numbers the German carmaker states consumption figures of 8.49 litres for the Coupe and 8.59 litres per 100km for the Roadster.

Aesthetically, the TT RS plus sports 19-inch five-spoke Rotor alloy wheels, matt aluminum details on the grille, carbon fibre-reinforced polymer door mirrors and blacks oval tailpipe trims. The sports exhaust system is standard on this model. Even the engine compartment of the new Audi is finished in carbon.

Continue reading: Audi TT RS plus: Prices start from £48,945

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Here are a few spy shots of the next Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, that the Blue Oval said it will come with the most powerful V8 production engine in the world. Apparently, this 5.8-litre turbocharged unit entirely made of aluminum will produce a staggering 662 hp with 855 Nm of peak torque and use an intercooler heat exchanger with the volume increased by 36% over the previous version. The model boasts a dry weight of 1750 kg and comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox with upgraded gears, bearings and housing to manage its outstanding torque.

Ford also claims that the new car will be the most efficient model of its segment: average fuel consumption is rated at 13.07 l/100 km (15.67 l/100 km in the city and 9.8 l/100 km on motorways). Top speed is rated at 320 km/h (about 200 mph). Nearly every part of the powertrain has been optimized for producing the additional horsepower, including a new supercharger, new cross-drilled block and heads, updated camshaft profiles, a new carbon fiber driveshaft and upgraded clutch, transmission and axle. The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 comes with 19″ forged aluminum rims at the front and 20″ on the rear.

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After the video dedicated to the DBS, Aston Martin has released a new clip starring the new Virage Dragon 88. Presented at the Beijing Motor Show, the Dragon 88 Limited Editions, were created to celebrate the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, drawing on the Chinese concept of prosperity and luck expressed by the number 8.

The Aston Martin Virage Dragon 88 Limited Edition is available in a choice of three exterior shades, Amethyst Red, Volcano Red and Champagne Gold, each respectively matched with a unique interior finish: Spicy Red, Deep Purple and Red Chancellor. The dashboard features details in metal and burl Piano Black, as well as a plate engraved with the model number and logo of the dragon.

On the tailgate of the car is placed the signature Aston Martin wing badges plated with 24-carat gold. The Virage Dragon 88 is fitted with a new set of alloy wheels in a 10-spoke design that hide the brake calipers, painted in black. Along with the 1000W Bang & Olufsen sound system, the British manufacturer has included a Presentation Box which contains an Owner’s Guide, a pair of customised Bang & Olufsen earphones and two glasses ECUs.

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Mercedes-Benz showed up at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show with two world premieres: the Concept Style Coupe and the new G-Class. During the press conference that introduced these new models - that was graced by a short gig from renowned English artist Jessie J - Mercedes CEO, Mr. Dieter Zetsche, stated that in order to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s leading car manufacturer by 2020, the house of the three-pointed star considers China as a key-market, and for this reason the German carmaker is working to improve even further its own distribution and services network in the country.

Making its first appearance ever in a motor show, the new Concept Style Coupe is a compact 4-door coupe developed on the same platform that generated the recent B-Class and is supposed to anticipate a future model that should end up adopting the CLA moniker. Measuring 4,639 mm in length, 1,398 in height and 1,891 in width, this concept car uses a well-thought mix of tight and rounded lines that conveys a sort of ’speed’ and ‘movement’ vibe: its front end looks especially sporty and aggressive, adding up to the overall sleek and elegant aesthetics of the car. Its exclusive 20″ alloy rims and the very concept-oriented wing mirrors will not be used for the final production version of the car, whose most sporty variants will be equipped with a set of 19″ alloys courtesy of AMG. Under the bonnet pulses a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine delivering 211 hp, mated to a 7G-DCT ‘dual clutch’ automatic gearbox and to the 4matic all-wheel drive system. Definitely worth mentioning is also its brand new Comand Online infotainment system, which exploits the ‘cloud computing’ to improve its own efficiency and make the ride more pleasant for the passengers.

The other important new Merc on display in Beijing is the new G-Class. The model retains the iconic design of the first Gelandewagen - simple, squared off and extremely functional - but its mechanical and electronic contents have been updated to live up to nowadays standards. Having won the ‘Offroader Of The Year” prize more than 20 times since its debut in 1979, the re-styled G-Class now comes with modern day LED technology at the front, revised wing mirrors and a pair of newly designed bumpers. However, the most dramatic change affected its cabin, where we find once again the Comand Online system as well as the Distronic Plus and the Blind Spot Assist (all of which are becoming standard features on all the new Mercs). The ‘500′ version of the revamped G-Class line-up will come with a 5.4-litre V8 delivering 388 hp and 530 Nm of peak torque, while the ‘350 BlueTec’ will be powered by a 3.0-litre diesel engine producing 211 hp and 540 Nm. Moreover, two muscular AMG variants of the model will also be a part of the new range, namely the G63 AMG - equipped with a 5.4-litre twin turbo V8 delivering 544 hp and 760 Nm - and the outstanding G65 AMG, pushed by a frightening 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 credited with an output of 612 hp and no less than 1,000 Nm of maximum torque.

View the full Mercedes-Benz @ the 2012 Beijing Motor Show photo gallery

Continue reading: Mercedes-Benz @ the 2012 Beijing Motor Show

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Iconic Italian designer and coachbuilder Pininfarina is at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show to present its new Cambiano, a sportscar that was officially unveiled at the recent Geneva Motor Show. This new and elegant concept is characterized by its unconventional asymmetric 3-door layout: on the driver side there’s only one door while on the passenger side there are 2 doors opening from the middle with no B-pillar.

The car weighs about 1,700 kg and comes with a central cell made of carbon fiber while aluminum was used for front and rear subframes. As for its hybrid powertrain, it includes four separate 60kW electric motors (one for each wheel) as well as a front mounted diesel engine that acts as a range extender.

Among the most notable features of this car there are its panoraic glass sunroof, LED lighting all around, The claimed performance figures of this model are not bad at all: 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 4.2 seconds, top speed of 275 km/h (more than 170 mph) and a total range of 800 km (200 km on electric power alone). CO2 emission is rated at 45 g/km. Pininfarina plans to build 10 units, each one priced at approximately 1 million Euros.

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In the wake of the exclusive presentation that took place in L.A. last week, we had the chance to meet the wonderful Mercedes Concept Style Coupe again at the ongoing 2012 Beijing Motor Show. The latest creation of the design team led by Gorden Wagener is a compact 4-door coupe that measures just 4,637 mm in length and has the same wheel base of the latest B-Class. The model is also an anticipation of a future model from the German manufacturer which should end up being called CLA.

The front end of the Concept Style Coupe looks pretty modern and aggressive, and adopts the same style of the most recent Mercs. This prototype is equipped with a flashy set of 20″ alloys that boasts a very interesting turbine-like design, but the production-version of the car will roll on smaller wheels, with the AMG variant using 19″ rims. The Concept Style Coupe comes with the 4Matic all-wheel drive system and a 7-speed dual clutch 7G-DCT transmission, a combination that we will see again for the most pushy models of the new model. Under the bonnet of the car on display in Beijing there is a 2.0-litre credited with an output of 211 hp.

The car can accommodate up to 4 people on the same integral seats that we have seen on the A-Class. The interior uses Alcantara finishing as well as other premium materials, and has been designed at the Mercedes Style Centre in Como, Italy. The dashboard is enriched by some carbon inserts and uses some quite fancy and futuristic solution, such as the air vents that get illuminated in different colors according to temperature selected by the driver. The Comand Online sat-nav works alongside the cloud computing, while the whole infotainment system can be updated using the internet connection of a smartphone.

View the full Mercedes Concept Style Coupe @ the 2012 Beijing Motor Show photo gallery

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Hyundai is at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show with quite a few interesting models, most notably the new Santa Fe“>Santa Fe, the BHCD-1 and the Rhoens Coupe, which is basically the Genesis Coupe with a different name and some light cosmetic change.

The BHCD-1 is a model developed by Hyundai together with Chinese partner Beijing Automotive and will be marketed in China only as a Shouwang model. Its flashy front end features a pair of slender head-lights with LED technology and a sunken bonnet that gives the car a pretty aggressive outlook. As for now the model is still a prototype, but its definitive version is due to appear on Chinese roads within a couple of years.

Arguably the real star at the Hyundai stand in Beijing, the third generation of the Santa Fe (which was premiered at the New York International Auto Show earlier this year) turned out to be one of the crowd’s favorites. Measuring 4.69 meters in length, 1.88 in width, 1.68 in height and with a wheelbase of 2.70 meters, the innovative design of the Santa Fe is aligned to the design language adopted by the most recent models from the Korean carmaker. Its engine range include a 2.0-liter turbocharged GDI engine developing 264 hp, a 2.4-litre direct injection (GDI) producing an estimated 190 hp, and - for the Long Wheel Base variant only - a 3.3-litre GDI V6 engine delivering 290 hp.

View the full Hyundai BHCD-1 and Santa Fe @ the 2012 Beijing Motor Show photo gallery

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Maserati is at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show with four models: the luxury SUV Kubang, the GranTurismo Sport, the GranTurismo S Automatica and the GranCabrio Sport. The Kubang is the model that marks the entry of the prestigious Italian manufacturer in the SUV market and has been developed alongside American ally Chrysler: the design of the car was created at the Maserati Style Center and all its key mechanical features (meaning brakes, steering, suspension and electronics) have been developed by Italian engineers.

The Maserati GranTurismo Sport was premiered at the recent 2012 Geneva Motor Show and is pushed by a powerful 4.7-litre V8 engine delivering 460 hp and 520 Nm of maximum torque. This unit can be mated to a 6-speed “MC Shift” sequential or a 6-speed automatic gearbox: with the former the GranTurismo Sport would hit the 100 km/h (62 mph) mark from standstill in just 4.7 seconds, with the latter it will need 4.8 seconds to do that, reaching 300 km/h (186 mph) of top speed with both gearboxes.

The Maserati GranTurismo S Automatica instead is powered by a 4.7-litre unit delivering 440 hp and 490 Nm of peak torque and uses a 6-speed automatic gearbox that uses four driving modes: Auto Normal, Auto Sport, Auto ICE and even manual. Top speed for this car is 295 km/h (183 mph), while the 0-100 km/h sprint time is rated at 5 secs. The already known GranCabrio Sport comes with a 4.7-litre unit credited with an output of 450 hp and 510 Nm of torque which pushes the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds with 285 km/h (177 mph) of top speed.

View the full Maserati stand live @ the 2012 Beijing Motor Show photo gallery

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Our colleagues from parent-site Autoblog.it are currently in L.A. where Mercedes-Benz is about to unveil its new Concept Style Coupe during the ‘Transmission LA: AV Club” event at the Moca, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Los Angeles. However, our mates got the chance to attend an exclusive premiere of the model that Mercedes introduced to a selected number of people, and here are the pictures that they have taken there. These images allow us to better appreciate the model, that we presented yesterday with a few official pics and a video released by the German carmaker itself.

The Mercedes Concept Style Coupe is supposed to be an anticipation of the next Mercedes CLA, a new coupe model from the house of three pointed star that is expected to make its debut in 2013, and its styling looks indeed quite promising. Gorden Wagener, Head of Design at Mercedes-Benz, really did a great job with this new model as it features several interesting solutions in many areas: we just cannot wait to see how the production version of this car will look like.

Speaking of which, one of the most striking features of this Concept Style Coupe is the way its indicators work: they are integrated in the head- and tail-lamps layout, and when they get activated they actually move around to create a well-thought movement that emphasizes the intention of the driver. Besides, the head-lights use a particular LED technology that creates a sort of evil red light in the middle of them whenever the car is stalling. The car is equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-litre unit delivering 211 hp, which is coupled to a 7G-MDCT dual clutch automatic transmission and to the 4Matic all-wheel drive system.

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