Aston Martin V12 Zagato has been designed to commemorate 50 years of collaboration between the English brand and Zagato. The supercar has been unveiled for the first time at the European premiere at Zagato Showroom in Milan, a week before the official presentation at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

The V12 Zagato is a modern interpretation of the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato created 50 years ago thanks to a partnership between the two companies. The V12 resumes the unique and exceptional style of the DB4, an exaggerated yet elegant supercar, with a discreet but powerful attitude. Developed in just 18 months and presented as a concept car at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2011, the V12 Zagato was the first car of the British brand to take part in the 24 hours Nurburgring as a prototype.

The V12, developed through a close collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato, summarise the history of the brand and the style development that marked years of partnership between the two companies. The Aston Martin V12 Zagato is entirely hand-built, the body is made of aluminum and carbon fibre, and every single detail has been designed to be functional, as well as attractive. Measuring 4385mm length, 1865 width and 1250 height, the V12 Zagato is a compact, but spacious supercar; sleek, sporty and original boasting an elegant swagger and great performance. The 1680 kg of the car are driven by a powerful 6.0-litre V12 engine positioned in the front bonnet of the car: 517 hp and 570 Nm of torque bring the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of 305 km/h.

Norihiko Harada, Zagato’s Chief Designer, has personally designed the car by concentrating the efforts of his team to create a sporty streamlined model, yet practical and pleasant. The distinctive front, remind of past models created by Zagato and the grille’s design, deceives the eye by showing the “Z” logo of Zagato. The side is full and muscular, still not heavy, with a very low roof line. The vents behind the rear wheels and the two humps on the roof, complete its iconic look.

The production of this supercar will start next summer and will be limited to only 150 hand-made units, built by Aston Martin in Gaydon, England, and it will cost £330.000, ex VAT.

View the full Aston Martin V12 Zagato gallery.

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New official images dedicated to the Mercedes SL 63 AMG have just been released. Thanks to its retractable metal roof, the car can boast two different looks: it can easily switch from a spider to a coupé. The charming aesthetic approach, made in Affalterbach, results visually very effective and complements its performance.

Under the bonnet, this provocative German spider-coupé mounts a powerful 5.5 litres V8 AMG Bi-Turbo, 537 hp and sports a maximum torque of 800 Nm. The price list also include a Performance package that brings the power up to 564 hp and 900 Nm.

The new Mercedes SL63 AMG R231 weighs 1,845 kg, 125 kg less than the previous version. Thanks to the mass decrease, the car sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds, reaches 200Km in 12.9 seconds and stretches to a maximum speed of 250 km/h, limited by the control unit. With the AMG Performance Package, the speed increases to 300 km/h and the 0-100 km/h is reduced by one tenth, while at 0-200km/h is down to 3/10.

View the full Mercedes SL 63 AMG r231 gallery.

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New videos and pictures dedicated to the new Mini Roadster have just been released. Just to remind you, the new Anglo-German spider will be available in four versions with different price tags: Mini Cooper Roadster (£18,015), Mini Cooper S Roadster (£20,900), Mini Cooper SD Roadster (£21,630) and Mini John Cooper Works Roadster (£24,850).

Mini Cooper Roadster:
Four-cylinder petrol engine with fully variable valve management.
Displacement: 1,598 cc, output: 90 kW/122 hp at 6,000 rpm, max. torque: 160 Nm/118 lb-ft at 4,250 rpm.
Acceleration 0–100 km/h (62 mph): 9.2 seconds, top speed: 199 km/h (124 mph).
Average fuel consumption according to EU: 5.7 litres/100 kilometres (49.6 mpg imp), CO2 emissions: 133 g/km.

Mini Cooper S Roadster:
Four-cylinder petrol engine with MINI Turbo technology.
Displacement: 1,598 cc, output: 135 kW/184 hp at 5,500 rpm, max. torque: 240 Nm/177 lb-ft at 1,600 – 5,000 rpm (260 Nm/192 lb-ft with Overboost at 1,730 – 4,500 rpm).
Acceleration 0–100 km/h (62 mph): 7.0 seconds, top speed: 227 km/h (141 mph).
Average fuel consumption according to EU: 6.0 litres/100 kilometres (47.1 mpg imp), CO2 emissions: 139 g/km.

More pictures, videos and technical specs after the jump.

Continue reading: Mini Roadster: technical specs, new pictures and videos

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Here are the latest spy shots showing the new Porsche 911 Turbo Convertible during some cold weather tests near the Artic Circle. This mule uses less camouflage than the one we saw in the previous set of photos, allowing us to see more of the rear end.

The most distinctive features of the new rear end are the air outlets placed at the sides of the bumper, the two pairs of re-designed mufflers, the mobile rear wing and the new engine cover. As for the front end, the cammo is still a little to heavy to figure out what’s new in comparison to the outgoing model.

The new Porsche 991 Turbo will be powered by a 3.8-litre twin turbo boxer engine delivering more than 500 hp, whose power will be delivered to all four wheels through Porsche’s trademark PDK dual clutch transmission.

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Mazda introduces the MX-5 Special Edition Spring, a limited edition for the European markets that will be showcased at the next Geneva Motor Show (March 8-18). The model will come with either a soft top or a retractable hardtop, and can be distinguished from the other versions by the exclusive Radiant Ebony paint job, the thin chrome outline of the front grille, the Havana Brown leather upholstery and the sat-nav with multi-function screen. However, if the Radiant Ebony color isn’t quite your thing, the already known Crystal White Pearl, Metropolitan Grey and Brilliant Black options will also be available.

The Mazda MX-5 Special Edition Spring will have just one engine, a 1.8-litre delivering 126 hp, which is enough to push the model from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.9 seconds, with a claimed top speed of 198 km/h (123 mph).

View Mazda MX-5 Special Edition Spring photo gallery

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The recent snowfalls that hit Rome in recent days are a quite rare event, and seeing the Italian Capital in white makes it even more unique and evocative. The good people at Mercedes-Benz thought it would have been a great idea to seize the moment and shoot a nice promo video featuring one of its hottest models, and here it is. The star of the clip is the beautiful Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster, which can be seen strolling and playing around the suggestive monuments of Rome in all of its glory.

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Mercedes celebrates the 60th birthday of its iconic SL roadster with the release of a short clip that chronicles the whole evolution of the model, from 1952’s 300SL all the way up to the recently unveiled R231 version, with its new aluminum bodyshell (a first in Mercedes-Benz’s history).

Just as a quick reminder, the new Mercedes SL comes with a 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 306 hp and 370 Nm of peak torque (for the SL350 version) and a 4.7-litre V8 unit producing 435 hp and 700 Nm (for the SL500). Both engines use a 7G-TRONIC PLUS automatic transmission.

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The fifth episode of this Lamborghini documentary focuses on the Gallardo, and in particular on two models: the Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Leggera and the Gallardo Spyder.

The Super Leggera’s structure can be summed up in an ultra-light body stretched over a tubular frame, and thanks to the extensive use of carbon fibre this vehicle has been crowned the lightest in the Lamborghini range. With a top speed of 325 km/h (202 mph), the LP 570-4 Super Leggera only comes second to the Aventador in terms of performance.

The Gallardo Spyder was first unveiled at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show as an “al fresco” version of the v10 super sports car. Needless to say, watching this video only makes you wish you could jump immediately in one of these jewels and spend the rest of your life cruising from riviera to riviera.

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The partnership between Mercedes AMG and Ducati is going full speed ahead. After the Ducati Diavel AMG Special Edition and the SLK 55 AMG in Ducati Streefighter Yellow, this is latest advert gives us a behind the scenes look of another of their commercials featuring once again the C63 AMG Coupe and the Ducati 848 Evo: two blinding white hot machines that compliment one another and the same two sexy models: what more could one ask for in a commercial?

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American aftermarket company Vorsteiner presents a tuning program called VMS specifically designed and manufactured for Bmw 5-series F10. The package includes a lightweight carbon fiber aerodynamic package developed for vehicles already equipped with the factory M Tech aero package and consists of an add-on front spoiler, rear diffuser and a rear spoiler. To further complement the new sporty character of Bmw’s sports sedan, the tuner has also developed a finely tuned quad sports exhaust system (which Vorsteiner claims to provide the model with a “Formula 1 car tone”) and offers 20″ and 21″ forged wheels options. Aesthetically, the resulting car is not dramatically different from the standard model, but it surely gains points in terms of aggressiveness and sporty attitude. Click on the ‘Continue reading’ link below to see an official video presentation of the tuning issued by Vorsteiner itself.

View the full Bmw 5-Series F10 V-MS by Vorsteiner photo gallery

Continue reading: Bmw 5-Series F10 V-MS by Vorsteiner (with video)

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