With all that money floating around it’s no wonder that Dubai is turning into the capital of bling-bling in the automotive sector. While not as excessive as the gold-plated Porsche 911 Cabriolet in Russia, this 2007 Toyota Camry that’s adorned in 24k gold accessories deserves a place on our list with the worst crimes committed against cars. If by any twisted chance you’re interested, the gold Camry is up for sale in Dubai for 135,000 AED which is about $36,800 or €23,700.
Honda to Shut Down U.K. Plant for Two Months, Reduce Production in Japan
Sliding sales have prompted Honda to idle its British plant in Swindon for two months in February and March as part of a global production cutback that it has announced 'in response to a dramatic change in the global automobile market'. The Swindon shutdown will mean that Honda will produce 21,000 fewer vehicles at the Wiltshire plant that builds CR-V models alongside European Civics. The plant's 4,800 employees will be laid off for the two month duration of the closure, although the company said that they will continue to receive basic pay. Honda also announced on Friday that it will reduce output at one of its Japanese factories by a further 40,000 vehicles.
As much as we would like to believe that we always know why people do the things they do, fact is that sometimes we don't have even the slightest idea. Take this monstrously modified Nissan Maxima for example. It's as if the owner of the Kuwaiti licensed plate vehicle went into an automotive supermarket randomly picking out accessories and parts for the mix. Here's a shortlist of his "groceries": BMW 7-Series fascia, BMW M3-like front bumper, Lamborghini style front scissor doors, two-part hood, gullwing rear doors and a Supra-like rear wing are just a few of the countless items that he added to the poor Maxima. What can we say...
We've pretty much exhausted the topic of the Nissan 370Z having posted all the available information and the official image gallery with 36 high-res photos we'll avoid being repetitive letting you check out the attention-grabbing, but unfortunately soundless, 6-minute long promotional video.
In less than two weeks time, on the eve of the 2008 Bologna Motorshow in Italy on 2 December, Mazda will proceed to the unveiling of the new Mazda3 Sedan's sportier sibling, the 5-door hatchback. But until then, Mazda decided to amuse us with the release of a large image gallery with photos of camouflaged Mazda3 hatchbacks that were shot somewhere in Europe during the development phase of the vehicle. The amount of black cladding does leave a lot to the imagination but it's apparent that the new Mazda3 hatchback will feature the same happy -sorry Jenny- face as the Sedan which was recently unveiled at the LA Auto Show.
It is also expected that Mazda's new proposal in the subcomapct segment will grow in length maintaining roughly the same width and height as before. In America the new '3' saloon will be launched with two four-cylinder petrol engines, a 2.0-liter unit with 148HP and a new 2.5-liter producing 167HP. In Europe, both the hacthback and sedan will be offered with smaller displacement petrol and diesel four pot units including Mazda's 140HP 2.0-liter and 170HP 2.2-liter turbo diesels.