Toyota iQ Inspires Royal College of Art’s Design Competition

In what appears to be more of a promotional gig than anything else, Toyota has marked the launch of the new iQ minicar in the UK by forming a new partnership with London’s Royal Collage of Art. The partnership will primarily involve a design competition involving students and college alumni exploring what Toyota calls, ‘intelligent urban living design’ with the new iQ minicar providing the ‘necessary’ inspiration. The winning designs will be shown in a special exhibition in early 2009. Hit the jump to see pictures of the iQ on display at the Royal College of Art. -Continued

Greenpeace Targets Mercedes in Germany, Presents the Pig-Class

Last year it was Porsche, now it was Mercedes-Benz’ turn to get a taste of how it feels to be targeted by Greenpeace. The self-proclaimed eco-warriors staged a protest in front of a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Cologne, Germany. As they did last year at Porsche central offices in Stuttgart, Greenpeace activists accused Mercedes-Benz of manufacturing “Climate Pigs”. And just in case someone did not value the meaning of the term, the demonstrators presented a pink ML-Class all dressed up in pig ears and snout. -Continued

We hope that next time Greenpeace decides to target a car manufacturer they’ll come up with something a bit more creative as to be totally honest, the piggy theme is starting to get old.

Photo: UP

Honda Calling ‘Type R’ Owners for a Special day out

If you happen to live in the UK and own a Type R model, you may be interested in participating at a special event that Honda is organizing at the final round of the British Touring Car Championship in Brands Hatch on September 21. Apart from getting a royal parking treatment in a special ‘Type R Only’ car park, 250 owners of the Honda performance cars will get access to an exclusive Type R Drivers’ Club in the paddock of the Kent circuit. A group of owners will also get the chance to take part in a pre-race grid walk and meet the Team Halfords Civic drivers before they do battle in the end-of-season Touring Car races.

BMW M Model Gathering in Munich

More than 180 participants with around 120 BMW M model vehicles of all sorts ranging from the original M1 supercar to the latest M3 took part in an official gathering at the Bavarian automaker’s headquarters in Munich, Germany this past weekend. All participants were members of the BMW M-Power club which is limited to owners of the specific model series. The lucky chaps spent the day visiting BMW’s M head office, the BMW World center and the Bavarian firm’s museum. Moreover, along with showing off their latest offerings that included the 2009 M6 with the Competition package, the German automaker treated the M-Power community members with an exclusive close up of the M1 Homage Concept. Hit the jump to view the image gallery. -Continued

Saturn’s Kiss my As…tra Photo Contest

The things people are capable of doing just to obtain the feeling that they may actually win something is truly amazing. Like, can you imagine yourself bending over and kissing a car just to take part in a competition that you have less chances of winning than being stuck by lightning? Sadly, as Saturn’s Kiss My Astra competition proves, there are plenty of folks out there who don’t seem to have any problems of the sort. -Continued

In any case, Saturn’s competition has now entered its last phase where online viewers can view the twenty finalists and vote for their favorite Astra-kissing picture at 'saturnkissmyastra.com'. Only one of them will actually win the Grand Prize – a new Astra of course, with the next five runner-ups winning $300 gift cards and the remaining finalists receiving $100 worth of gift cards and the glory of having their face on the internet.

China’s JAC Auto is at it again...

If there’s one Chinese carmaker that knows how to make an automotive mixed grill, that has to be JAC Auto. After the Skoda-Mercedes-Lexus thingamajig called the C240 -click here- that appeared at the 2007 Shanghai Show (and who knows how many other products like it), JAC Auto strikes again with a monstrosity part Lancia Thesis, part Ford Taurus, part… well, we’ll let you decide for yourselves what other car this vehicle reminds you of. -Continued


Via: Jalopnik , Source: chesi

Oh the Irony: Vegetarian Driver Crashes Animal Truck

Now here’s an offbeat story that gave us a few chuckles. A vegetarian woman driving on a highway in Germany got so sick and traumatized by the sight of a truck loaded with pigs that was heading for a sausage factory that she that she jerked her steering wheel and started swerving right and left. But guess what happened next; to her misfortune, she crashed into another truck packed with pigs! Fortunately, according to the German police the woman suffered little more than a fright. Too bad we can’t say the same about the poor pigs…

Via: Stern

Mobile VW Crafter Barber Shop !

A UK company called Barbus that’s based in Banbury, Oxfordshire has found a way to match barbering services with our frantic 21st century lifestyle by bringing the barber shop to the customer. The company provides its mobile barbering service to clients at local trading estates, supermarket car parks or any other type of parking lot. Barbus uses a Volkswagen Crafter panel van that has been converted into a mobile barbers shop. The Crafter’s interior has been completely transformed and is fully equipped with two leather salon chairs, mirrors, power points, hair driers, electric clippers, and even a toilet/cloakroom cubicle. -Continued

Mercedes-Benz Creates 1,000 Special Edition S550 Sedans for Charity

Mercedes-Benz USA has designed a special edition version of its S550 sedan to help raise funds for Saks Fifth Avenue's KEY TO THE CURE, a women's cancer initiative developed in partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation's (EIF) Women's Cancer Research Fund. The Special Edition S550 that will be available in 1,000 pieces, is distinguished by the sport bodykit that includes a front air dam, side skirts and rear bumper with dual stainless-steel exhaust tailpipes, 20-inch AMG 5-spoke alloys, the Diamond White metallic paint and the exclusive Sahara Beige / Black Leather interior that’s combined with Burl Walnut trim. -Continued

The German automaker said that it expects to contribute $1 million through the sale of the 1,000 exclusive S-Class vehicles scheduled to arrive at Mercedes-Benz dealerships this month bringing the total raised to date by MBUSA for women's cancer research to over $6 million.

Image edited by Carscoop

Fancy That: Study Shows Sportscars Arouse Women

And to think all those times we saw women drooling over exotic sports cars we actually believed that their real interest was about the owner’s bank account - how foolish of us… Believe it or not, according to scientific study performed by Bermuda based luxury motor insurers Hiscox (it’s not ours, we swear), the sound of a luxury car engine is actually more appealing for women than men.

A total of 40 participants, 20 men and 20 women from professional backgrounds, aged between 22 and 61 years of age, took part in Hiscox’ (they couldn’t have picked a worse name) experiment. The participants were exposed to a 30 sec recording of the engine sounds of a VW Polo, a Maserati, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. After 20 minutes their response was measured by the amount of testosterone found in their saliva -now, don't get perverted boys. The result? -Continued

Hiscox –this is getting really stupid but we can’t help it- found that the Maserati had the biggest impact on women with 100% of the female participants showing a significant increase in testosterone secretion. Surprisingly, only 50% of male participants showed an increase in testosterone in reaction to the Maserati. The boys seemed to get a bit more turned on with the Lamborghini as 60% showed an increase in testosterone levels. Not surprisingly, 100% of the female participants showed a decrease in testosterone in reaction to the Polo’s engine sounds

David Moxon, the psychologist who conducted the study commented: “We saw significant peaks in the amount of testosterone in the body, particularly in women. Testosterone is indicative of positive arousal in the human body so we can confidently conclude from the results out today that the roar of a luxury car engine actually does cause a primeval physiological response.”

Thanks for the tip Alex! , Study Source: Hiscox

Dear God; Schumi Caught Speeding in Germany...

To be completely honest, the only reason that Michael Schumacher managed to make headlines for speeding is because he happens to be a former F1 world champion with seven titles under his belt. According to the German media, Schumi was caught by police doing 140 km/h (87mph) in a 100 km/h (62mph) speeding zone behind the wheel of an Audi A4 Cabriolet near his German hometown of Kerpen. The police gave Schumacher a €75 fine and removed three points on his driving license. The German newspaper Bild quoted Schumi saying “I’m really sorry; it is out of character for me. Speeding is for the race tracks only’’. Don’t worry Michael, we forgive you…

Via: Worldcarfans

Kuwaiti Police Buys 150 Dodge Chargers

Chrysler LLC has stuck a pretty good deal with the Kuwaiti government as the country’s Ministry of Interior has placed an order for 150 Dodge Chargers police vehicles. "Reflecting an image of strength and power is important for our law enforcement officials and the Dodge Charger portrays this image to the Kuwaiti people,” said Deputy Ministry of Interior, Musaed S. Al-Guwainem. Delivery of the ‘bad-boy’ Chargers to Kuwait is expected to be completed in the next two months as the police cars are currently being customized with the necessary equipment. -Continued

Via: Autofiends , Source: Chrysler

German Taxi Driver and Spanish Student win Nissan’s GT Academy

Lars Schlomer, a 28-year-old taxi driver from Bonn, Germany and Lucas Ordonez, a 23-year-old MBA student from Spain are the winners of the GT Academy, an international driving competition organized by PlayStation and Nissan. The pair beat 20 other competitors from across Europe during the five-day GT Academy international final at the British racetrack Silverstone. Now both winners will have to put their lives on hold as they face a four-month intensive training program with Nissan’s race team to earn their racing license and compete in the Dubai 24hr endurance race in January 2009. -Continued

“I can’t believe it. This is a dream come true,” said Lucas Ordoňez after his. “I knew this would be difficult and I did not expect to win, but I just took each day as it came and tried to push to my maximum,” he added.

Lars Schlomer said: “I have wanted this for the last ten years of my life but I just never had the chance. This is amazing. I truly would have been heartbroken if I hadn’t won. I would not have entered this competition if I did not believe I could win because coming to Silverstone and not winning would have been like giving a dog a bone and then taking it away again!”

1,100 Subaru Owners honor the late Colin McRae

An estimated 1,100 Subaru car owners and thousands more fans honoured the late Colin McRae this weekend with a convoy that stretched more than 30 miles. The Subaru owners left the Rally Champion’s home town of Lanark on Saturday morning. The convoy which was led by Colin’s father Jimmy McRae, drove for nine hours covering a distance of 300 miles to arrive at Prodrive’s headquarters in Banbury on Sunday morning. -Continued

Led by Colin McRae’s original 1996 Impreza rally car, the 1,086 Subaru owners formed a sign almost half a mile long that spelt out ‘COLIN MCRAE’ and the Scottish Saltire in a new official Guinness World Record smashing the previous record by more than 800 cars. The cars then broke a second Guinness World Record by creating the largest parade of cars as they left the Prodrive test track. It is estimated that the event raised nearly £40,000 for the McRae charities.