the car will probably harken back to the days of the AE86 Corolla as popularized by countless drift crazy drivers and the anime Initial D. Therefore it’s probably safe to expect a lightweight car of about 2500 pounds or less, the aforementioned rear wheel drive system, and about 120-150 horsepower with a turbocharged variant possible. The car will be trading brute power for superior driving dynamics, but that’s always been a recipe for great fun as proven by the Lotus Elise. The best part, however, is that the new Toyobaru/Subota should be very inexpensive, coming in below $20,000 and hopefully maybe even under $15,000.

To differentiate the models between brands I would suggest that Toyota get the RWD model and Subaru develop a 4WD version more in line with their brand philosophy. Also I would assume that each brand will get a slightly altered design as opposed to simple badge engineering. Either way I guess this means I’ll be waiting until 2011 before I finally get my car. While the previous sketch is probably close to what the car will look like, here are plenty of speculative renderings from other sources as well.

Courtest of Best Car :

I think the silver one looks particularly good out of these two renderings.

And courtesy of 7Tune :

These renderings I think look the best and other than the rear looking a little Ford Fusion-ish to me I would not be disappointed at all if the car ended up looking like this.

The unveiling of a new Lamborghini is always a huge event, especially to me. And this one is no different. Much like the Murcielago was transformed into the LP640, the Gallardo is now the Gallardo LP 560-4. LP for longitudinale posteriore, the engine’s positioning in the car, 560 for 560 PS/ 552 HP, and 4 for its four-wheel-drive system. The redesigned new front end adds some angles reminiscent of the new Reventon. The profile remains largely the same but the rear end is completely redesigned. The taillights are wider and no longer travel up rear deck of the car. Below them a black grille stretches across the entire rear end of the car and a pair of dual exhausts are visible exiting from a black housing above a new rear diffuser. Tons more pics (including the interior) after the jump and some pics of the old Gallardo for comparison.

And now the old Gallardo:

Porsche and Wolkswagen have always had a very close relationship, with parts sharing dating back to their beginnings. This relationship is further emphasized when considering that Ferdinand Porsche also designed the iconic people’s car Volkswagen Beetle. In March of 2007 Porsche upped its stakes in VW to 31% officially triggering rumors of an eventual takeover. Well according the the Detroit News the VW Auto Group Supervisory Board has just given its approval for Porsche to take majority ownership of the company moving to 51% to VW’s 49% at a cost of approximately $20 billion from Porsche’s pocketbooks. The move has been anticipated for some time now, and with it finally going through parts sharing between the two automakers will probably be even greater.

It’s been a while since I’ve been excited about any SUV – what with the 3.00 dollar-a-gallon gas and just the poor handling and bland styling.That may be about to change, however, with the unveiling of the new Land Rover LRX concept – in black this time. The new truck is a sexy mini-ute – and looks even better than the plain white one at the Detroit Auto Show. Deets and more pics after this

The exterior is done up in black and contrasted by a silver roof with a carbon panel and carrying rack to accentuate its utility. Aluminum accessories combine to further the styling. Not keen to let the style distract from its purpose, however, the recently sold Land Rover has seen fit to also fit the fenders and side panels with matte-black protective trim. Pictures of the interior have not yet been released, but rest assured that it’ll probably carry the same good looks as the exterior and the same luxury as LR is known for. With a steeply raked windshield and low slanting roofline, it exudes the same sportiness as some of Mazda’s recent crossovers and probably hurts rear headroom much the same way BMW’s new X6 does, while looking far better than both.

And while the styling is a major draw in and of itself, the big news here is that the 2.0 liter diesel hybrid engine should theoretically make it capable of 60(!) mpg. Still in only the concept stage, if that engine can manage to provide the truck with decent enough power give a 0-60 time of around 6.0 seconds or so, I just might be sold on a hybrid for the first time ever. People who know me, however, might call me hypocritical as I’ve never been a fan of hybrids due to the fun they suck out of driving. However, this is an SUV, not a sports car. Thus, assuming it can get the job done, I’ll gladly take one with a hybrid.

Earlier we brought you leaked pictures of the new Mercedes-Benz SL class. Well, now the top of the line AMG models have been revealed and we felt compelled to bring it straight to you. It features most of the changes of the standard SL, but with one MAJOR difference. It comes with AMG’s 6.3 liter with The SL63 AMG is new and comes with AMG’s naturally aspirated 6.2 litre engine cranking out 538 hp and 465 lb-ft or torque. And if that’s not enough for you the SL65 AMG has the renowned twin turbo V12 pushing out 604 hp and a tire-shredding 738 lb-ft of torque. Pricing hasn’t been announced but if you’re hankering for one of these babies, be prepared to spend about $120,000 or more for the SL63 and around $200,000 for the SL65. AMG specific features include a new hood, complete new aero kit, wheels jacked from a Porsche 911 Turbo, plus the obligatory AMG badging. Inside you still get all the luxury expected from a Mercedes-Benz featuring seas of dead cow everywhere accented by carbon fibre. I’ll take a 63 in black, please. More pics after the jump.

So We’ve long extolled the virtues of the upcoming Nissan GT-R. Namely being that with permanent awd and a turbocharged V6 good for 480 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque all at a msrp of only $69,000, it offers an amazing bang-for-the-buck proposal. Now when we heard there would only be 1,500 GT-R’s coming to the red, white, and blue land we figured the majority of dealers would be upmarking enthusiast drivers. However, we expected it to be about 80 grand or so. WRONG!

A good guy at ExhaustNote.com was kind enough to call a bunch of Nissan dealers and see how much it was going to be, and we were all way off. It seems that dealers will either be auctioning Godzillas off, or they will add about $30,000 to $60,000 to the sticker. That makes for a grand total of nearly $129,000, effectively diminishing much of its cost advantage. Thus anyone pining for some of Nissan’s new hotness is gonna have shell out almost twice as much as they may have planned on at first. I understand the economics of it, and that people will be willing to pay it regardless, but I still hate the practice. Ripping off the customers who you have to build brand loyalty with might be bad, I suppose, but maybe you have no other choice to make money when you’re stuck selling Sentras and Maximas all day.

So one of my favorite cars has always been the Mercedes-Benz SL Class. It offers pretty much the perfect combination of style, sport, and luxury. With models ranging from the “homely” SL550 with its 5.5 litre V8 engine offering 382 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque to the monster that is the Sl65 AMG with a twin-turbo 6.0 litre V12, 604 horsepower and an earth-moving 738 lb-ft of torque, the hardtop roadster has always provided the pinnacle of Mercedes sport and luxury at any price (as long as it’s more than $100,000). Well, Mercedes-Benz felt the current SL(pictured immediately after the jump) was getting a little raggedy-looking so in the midst of a mid-life crisis they took it under the knife to get a little work done. The changes and pics after the break.

So visually comparing the pictures the most noticeable difference lies in the front end. The new car has revised headlights which have gone from the interlocking circles to resembling those of the swoopy CLS 4-door coupe, which I like to call hockey stick lights. These flank a new grille which now has only one crossbar framing the instantly recognizable three-pointed star Mercedes-Benz logo. There are also new side vents just aft of the front fenders aping those of the even higher-end SLR McLaren, but miniaturized. Deutschland’s finest also saw fit to modify the rear, giving the car a new rear diffuser and dual trapezoidal exhaust tips.

Inside, they’ve refreshed the interior with a new steering wheel and gauge cluster, center console, and larger nav system. The car still features everything everything expected of a high-end luxury cruiser, with enough wood to build a house and leather from enough cows to feed Argentina. However, there’s still one mystery introduced by the pictures. The back of the headrests appear to have fans in them… The purpose of which has not yet been revealed as these pictures were all leaked.

We’ll find out everything when the official unveiling happens. On first impression the car is fairly underwhelming. The front end might be new, but I think the headlights on the older one looked better. Other than that, however, it’s simply a mild refresh so the shape overall remains the same as well as the dimensions. In terms of what is powering it, however, at least one new engine is expected: the new 231 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque V6. Due to increasing concerns over fuel economy this new engine should give it some performance while offering slightly better fuel economy for the base-level trim. Don’t fret though as the more traditional models will surely pack the same punch as always. The refreshed SL65 AMG has not yet been unveiled but will definitely be covered as soon as we receive word of it. Overall, it’s a decent redesign to help the roadster stay relevant another couple of years before it is redesigned completely.

So in bit of sad news for today, the brilliant 2008 Nissan GT-R has seen the first crash of one of its production cars. This amazing car, with 480 horsepower, 430 lb-ft of torque, a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of 193 mph, is apparently still very difficult to handle as shown here. The AWD system on the car was apparently not enough to prevent this particular driver from ramming his probably 100 thousand dollar, 2 month-old car head on into a barrier. The crumple zones, however, appear to work well as the driver escaped relatively unharmed. One more picture of the damage after the jump.

With the new year fast approaching it’s as good a time as any to go ahead and look back on the year 2007 for the auto industry. The auto industry grew overall with the number of cars sold worldwide totaling 53 million. While GM continued to hold the lead in sales over Toyota with 9.1 million in sales there is no doubt Toyota is definitely closing in. It sold 8.5 million cars in 2007 and it’s probably only a matter of time before they become the world leader in car sales. US automakers continued to stagnate, suffering from perceptions of poor quality, or in the case of most Chrysler vehicles, very real poor quality.

Japanese automakers continued to cement their position as the producer of “green” cars, with Toyota’s Prius continuing to dominate that segment of the market. Aside from sucking the fun out of driving, hybrids also allow for some increased gas mileage and less noise. DaimlerChrysler decided the relationship wasn’t working and called it quits, resulting in the sale of Chrysler to Cerberus, a private equity company. Chrysler is now mired in financial troubles and recently fears were sparked of an eminent bankruptcy due to statements from CEO Bob Nardelli.

Big debuts were also made with Honda unveiling its svelte new Accord, particularly nice in coupe trim and plain in sedan form. Nissan unveiled its new GT-R easily overtaking the corvette as best bang-for-the-buck supercar by providing Porsche 911 Turbo performance at nearly half the cost. BMW’s new wunderkind the 1 series should be a huge hit combining the incredible turbocharged inline six motor producing 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque with a smaller car, but at nearly $35,000 stock, will it cannibalize sales of the iconic 3 series?

Speaking of the 3 series, Mercedes-Benz replaced its lethargic C class with a new one that should prove much more capable of competing.

Audi’s first ever supercar the R8 premiered to much success, winning many design awards, as well as enthused buyers. However, there’s always been a Gentleman’s Agreement in Germany between the big three luxury automakers with BMW building sporty cars, Mercedes-Benz building luxurious people carriers, and Audi providing the pinnacle of technology such as their famed Quattro all wheel drive system. But in 2007 the agreement was shattered with Audi and Mercedes-Benz breaking into BMW’s territory. Audi also made a vow to become the #1 luxury automaker in the world. Volkswagen also made a similar declaration, boldly predicting they’d be in Toyota’s place by 2010. Meanwhile Porsche waits patiently for the holidays to pass so they can buy out Volkswagen. 2007 was an exciting year and everyone’s maneuverings should provide for an interesting year of news in 2008. Happy New Year to all of you reading this, all 3 (maybe) of you.