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RPMGO Awards: Winners for week March 12-18
McLaren will only make sportscars, no sedans or SUVs
Video: GM showcases next generation full-windshield Heads Up Display

RPMGO Awards: Winners for week March 12-18

Posted: 19 Mar 2010 11:59 AM PDT

Hello and welcome to the conclusion of this week’s RPMGO Awards feature. After revealing to you the nominees yesterday, you voted in the polls and now we have the final results of the best and worst stories of the week.

Perfect Shift

The Perfect Shift this week was recorded by Bugatti, who decided to share with us some more details about its stunning 16C Galibier sedan concept. The fact that it will be powered by a twin-supercharged 8.0-liter W16 engine and the new photos of the model in an all-black paint job impressed a lot of people.

Runner up this week for the best story award was the rumor that the Lexus LFA supercar might be getting an even more powerful edition, called the Nurburgring. While it isn’t confirmed just yet, it’s quite likely that the Japanese company will release such a model sooner or later.

Over Rev

In terms of the worst story this week, the video of the guy trying to do a burnout in a BMW 3 Series, and failing miserably of course, won. It seems a lot of people felt extremely sorry for the guy, who had a huge amount of luck for getting out alive. I think it’s safe to say that he won’t be trying such things ever again.

GM’s decision to scrap the Cadillac Converj extended range electric vehicle project was runner this week, with quite a few people feeling sorry for the luxury EV. Hopefully the North American company will resurrect it in the future.

That’s it for this week, but keep checking back on RPMGO.com for all of the latest news, the most interesting features and new test drives.

Post published on Rpmgo.com

RPMGO Awards: Winners for week March 12-18

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McLaren will only make sportscars, no sedans or SUVs

Posted: 19 Mar 2010 05:20 AM PDT

Speaking during yesterday’s official presentation of the MP4-12C sportscar, McLaren head honcho Ron Dennis revealed to the press that future models coming from the new McLaren Automotive division will only be sportscars, with just two seats.

“We intend to have a diverse product range but they will all have two seats,” he said. “This is our heritage – we are sportscar makers and the engine will be in the back of all our cars.”

This way, Dennis denied any rumors that his company would go the route of Porsche, which revealed the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan, or Aston Martin, which launched the Rapide sedan recently. During the conference Dennis was even asked, jokingly, about an MP4-12C crossover. He immediately smiled alongside his colleagues.

Sticking with future plans for McLaren, the company said that it wants to get two new models out there, one targeted at the Porsche 911 market segment, and one to continue the heritage of the iconic F1 hypercar.

Until then, Dennis revealed that McLaren will be available to future MP4-12C customers in aiding to spec the car for professional racing. He also said that while a special track car might appear, based on the new model, a one-make series is out of the question, at least for now.

We’re thrilled that McLaren is joining the supercar game, and although we don’t blame Porsche or Aston for their decisions, it’s nice that McLaren will keep its name pure. What do you think? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Source: Autocar

Post published on Rpmgo.com

McLaren will only make sportscars, no sedans or SUVs

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Video: GM showcases next generation full-windshield Heads Up Display

Posted: 19 Mar 2010 05:06 AM PDT

General Motors, besides trying to make a profit and save face after the embarrassing 2009, is diligently working on new technologies to improve safety and help the driver perform better in tough conditions.

One such tech is the Heads Up Display (HUD) system, which has already been implemented by other companies, like BMW, in order to display accurate informations about speed or other things, right on the windshield, so that the driver doesn’t take his eyes off the road.

GM wants to take things one step further, and has just presented what it believes is the next generation of HUD systems. Instead of projecting information onto a small bit of the windshield, the new technology uses sensors in the whole screen to augment the reality perceived by the driver.

Sounds complicated? Think of driving in foggy conditions. Wouldn’t it be better if the margins of the road were highlighted? Or during the night, when this HUD tech would work together with the night vision one, and single out pedestrians and road signs, without you having to check the LCD screen in the center console.

Sadly, while this sounds extremely good, GM says that the technology still has a long way to go before it is feasible in terms of price and reliability. An optimistic view places it in high end cars around 2016, but it’s a bit of wishful thinking.

If you want to check out GM’s new Heads Up Display (HUD) technology, hit the jump to see a video of it in action.