Car tech blog

Citroën celebrated the 50th birthday of the DS at the International Cotemporary Art Fair (FIAC) in London last year, and for the exhibition, “The DS is a Work of Art”, the Frenchies decided to try and show the artistic dimension of the automobile. What better way to do that then by making it a Transformer? Although maybe that’s just us who think that — but others must like it too, because they’ve brought it to Paris for the show this year — and now we’re bringing it to you in the video above, and the picture from the press release below the jump.

– Ray Wert

Related:
The 2CV Transformer Ad; Ad Watch: Citroen Goes Transformer, Redux. Now, With Video!; Breakin II: Optimus Boogaloo: Citroen C4 to Do the Robot — Again [internal]

Which we imagine will be sooner than later. Autoblog reports: Ford says Jag, Volvo and Land Rover aren’t for sale. Why in the world Ford is holding on to these brands is beyond us. They are losing a lot of money and, overall, sales are down. Especially Jaguar.

We still think Ford should sell off all the brands, kill Mercury, and focus (ha!) on fixing Lincoln. Woe is Lincoln. The only thing Lincoln has going for it is the L version of the Town Car—the leg room is sweet. But since that’s the only thing… it might as well be nothing.

That’s a snap of the Jaguar XJ which is sorta nic… zzzz…..

Rich guy and Ferrari buff James Glickenhaus showed off his Pininfarina-designed Ferrari 612 P4/5 for the international media yesterday at the Paris show. This morning we caught the customized Enzo as it rode the turntable with obligatory Sultry Italian Model(TM), showing off its various bits. Glickenhaus also told us he was among the first to order one of Alfa Romeo’s sexy new 8C Competizione models — which will sport a 4.7-liter 460-hp V8 — after Alfa opened its book on the model yesterday (no word on price). Between the Ferrari, Alfa and “Basket Case II,” Big G is our new Captain Kangaroo. [Gallery]

Related:
Glickenhaus Unveils His New Ferrari 612 P4/5; You Are There: James Glickenhaus Drives His Custom Ferrari [internal]

Autoblog reports: Paris Motor Show: Toyota Auris space concept. At least we think so. Now, if Toyota has figured out how to fit 6-footers in tandem and still have a bit of room in the hatch area for beers and burgers. Or flowers and doilies, you know, whatever.

But if you like the looks of the Auris (we do) just go out and buy a Mazda3 ’cause its’ here now—ain’t no concept.

OK, this is a bit odd, but we’ll mention it anyway…. When we logged into Mazda’s press area (yeah, we don’t know how we got access to that either) and grabbed that Mazda3 it had the name beauty in the file name. We just found that weird. And we needed to share that with someone and our cup of coffee says it doesn’t care. So there you go.

• Wow, everything looks so…chrome today. If things look like crap, clear your browser cache. Just use shift-F5 in Firefox for PC, or Apple-Shift-R in Firefox for Mac. If you’re using IE, why?
• Dieter thinks KirkKerk is afraid. Somehow, we think it’s more like he’s hedging his bet. [NYT]
• Delphi wins! Well…more time for talks with unions at least. [Detroit News]
• FoMoCo and the General play under the big tent of the Texas State Fair. [Freep]
• DaimlerChrysler’s just about ready to pop China’s Chery. [WaPo]

• Champ car’s impressed with Portland’s support for car racing. [The Oregonian]

Swarm! Swarm! Renault- Nissan’s daddy and potential Ford main squeeze visited the Paris auto show this morning, a murder of Renault gendarmes, toadies, media and one jackass from New York in tow. The man’s a celebrity, people, with more juice than Welch’s and Ocean Spray combined, and thusly requires the company of thousands to keep him from going supernova. He’s so important, his scalp is insured for billions. He’s so big, he’s got size-36 loafers over size-six feet. And, by our limited grasp of French, he either wants GM, or a cup of grapefruit juice.

Related:
Chrysler Group CEO LaSorda Carries The Water Weight Of Unsold Trucks And SUVs Very Well [internal]

The guys from Winding Road, who just so happen to be sitting next to us in the Paris Turkish prison auto show press tomb room, say Rolls-Royce has confirmed it’s building a line of sedans slotted just below the Phantom, in the $230,000 to $330,000 range. Word is, the new models — to be launched within four years — will be close in size to the 101EX, and share a few parts with parent BMW’s 7-series. That price point keeps the model ahead of potential rival Bentley, but still well below Boeing’s “On the Wings of Imagination” Rose Parade float.

Scoop! Rolls Royce To Add Second Sedan Line Within Four Years [Winding Road]

Related:
Rolls-Royce Looks to Crack Lower-Priced Luxury Market; Two Doors, No Contortions: The Rolls-Royce 101EX Concept [internal]

We posted a couple of shots of Peugeot’s new 908 diesel Le Mans car carelessly gleaned from our big blue screen yesterday. In the interest of reader service, we then shed shoe leather like a PCP-addled Bruce Jenner on a quest to capture images for our files and ended up running across it’s li’l brudder, the 907 Spider, a spec-series racer that’ll run opening events in five heats of the Le Mans Series. Not since the R5 Turbo has a French automobile made us as giddy as these two machines. And it gives us an excuse to do some more o’ that fancy gallery fiddlin’. [Gallery]

Related:
09282006
Paris Auto Show 908 Le Mans Racer Revealed on the Televizzle! [Internal]

While on the Bullrun, we met a man named Peter Kolb, a man whose obsession with German precision knew no boundaries and brooked no imprecise nonsense. Peter’s vehicle of choice? A white GT3RS with red trim. But now, there’s a new GT3RS, available in orange or green. Undoubtedly, each individual horsepower is precisely tuned for laserlike corner carving, and altogether, the 3.6L flat six contains four hundred fifteen precision-lubed equines. Peter is undoubtedly giggling like a schulmädchen. [Gallery]

Related:
One of the Rarest: Porsche 916 on eBay [Internal]