Mercedes-Benz E 300 BLUETEC 258HP by BRABUS

The engineers of tuning firm BRABUS have developed a new special auxiliary module for the electronic engine management system for the new Mercedes E 300 BLUETEC called the “BRABUS PowerXtra D6 BLUE”. While the kit boosts power output by 47 HP at the same time exhaust emissions stay below the permissible limits of EURO V by up to 65 percent. After the conversion operation, which can be performed at any authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer, the 3.0-liter turbodiesel produces 258 HP at 3,700 rpm and a max torque figure of 610 Nm (450 lb-ft), up from standard 540 Nm (398 lb-ft). The BRABUS-tuned E 300 BLUETEC sprints from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.8 sec (vs 7.2 sec of the standard model) and reaches an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph)

BMW to Introduce EfficientDynamics Concept Car in Geneva

The Bavarian carmaker’s Geneva Motor Show stand will host the worldwide debut of an eco-friendly concept car that has never been seen before. There are no pictures or details on the car and the only thing that BMW says is that the new will showcase the outlook and future direction of its EfficientDynamics programme -feel free to speculate. For those of you wondering what “EfficientDynamics” stands for, its BMW’s way of characterizing the concept (or the overall technologies used) to overcome the apparent conflict of interests between better performance and greater fuel economy plus low emissions.

Mazda Carol Hot-Rod Wannabe

You’ve gotta give plenty of credits to the Japanese students of the Shizuoka Professional College of Automobile Technology for building this cool and Mazda Carol Hot-Rod wannabe. The students combined the body and interior of a 60’s Mazda Carol (rear-engined) with the all-wheel-drive powertrain and chassis of a mid 80’s Suzuki Jimny / Samurai. Too bad that they decided to retain the Suzuki’s puny 23 HP strong 0.5-liter engine unit.

Suzuki to Unveil V8-Powered Kizashi 3 Concept in NY?

According to a report from the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Suzuki is planning to unveil a third iteration of its Kizashi mid-size sedan concept in New York this March. The same report suggests that the Kizashi 3 will will be powered by a V8 engine driving all four wheels, compared to its turbodiesel and V6 Kizashi 1 and Kizashi 2 predecessors that where unveiled at the Frankfurt and Tokyo Auto Show respectively, in late 2007. Guess we’ll have to wait until March to see if those Dutch folks are right or not

2008 Cuda Concept Design Proposition

Looks like the one-off, custom made 2008 Cuda coupe that made its appearance at last year’s SEMA Show (see video here) has enliven the interest in the Plymouth Barracuda. This computer generated rendering is the work of Rafael Reston, a digital designer from Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to Reston, the Cuda Concept is based on the platform of the Chrysler 300C, while the proposed power source is a 5.4-litre bio-fuelled HEMI V8 engine. If you ask us, the overall design seems a little bit too “Hot-Wheelish” for our tastes. Feel free to disagree with us -or agree of course, by leaving a comment below.

Honda Civic Monster Truck!

We’re pretty sure that this monsterized Honda Civic hatch was made by those crazy folks from the discontinued “Red & Green” comdey show –who else would use duck tape as a means of body management… Not so sure however that the Civic actually moves, but it definitely made us laugh for about 3.7 seconds!

Update: 2008 London Motor Show Poster In High-Resolution

We received a significant number of e-mails last night from our readers asking us for higher resolution versions of the 2008 London Motor Show poster that we first showed you yesterday –see here. Although we tried to send as many e-mails as we could, we reckon that it’s just better to let you download wallpaper versions of the picture straight from our blog. The image above is 800x600, but if you follow the jump, we’ve added the most common PC/Laptop wallpaper sizes along with one that’s 1800x1350.