2010 Touring Superleggera A8GCS Berlinetta Sports Cars Concept

Touring Superleggera A8GCS Berlinetta was revealed in the flesh at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show after being previewed at the Concours d'Elegance. At the Festival Automobile in Paris last month, a panel comprised of designers, car experts and former Formula 1 driver Alain Prost awarded the Maserati A8GCS Berlinetta Touring the most beautiful supercar of the year. Television network Eurosport fielded over one million votes from viewers for the competition. Viewers’ choices included the Bugatti Sport Veyron, BMW 750i and Lotus Evora.

2010 Touring Superleggera A8GCS Berlinetta

Now this is how it's done. The Touring Superleggera A8GCS Berlinetta is a Maserati Gran Turismo rebodied with classic GT proportions and shapes. The result is classically beautiful, like a 1950s Maserati re-interpreted with 21st century technology.

Based on the Maserati Coupé GranSport mechanics, the A8GCS Berlinetta Touring represents the high performance sports car concept, with small dimensions, state-of-the-art constructive technology and perfect stylish synthesis between factory tradition and advanced aesthetic criteria.

Unlike the Bentley Flying Star shooting brake that's also from Touring Superleggera, the Berlinetta isn't destined for a well-heeled car nut. The company created it specifically to showcase its coachbuilding skills. If they have their way, they'll be turning the Maserati Gran Turismo and other exotic cars into vehicles that are even more exclusive, luxurious and personalized.

The new A8GCS Berlinetta Touring has been designed by the young Belgian designer Louis de Fabribeckers, in charge of the Touring styling department. The A8GCS Berlinetta Touring lines are not affected by time or fashion: the car is characterized by a soft aggressiveness originated by the perfect balance between the front end, directly derived from competitions, and the harmonious and fluent flanks reminding of the extraordinary Alfa Romeo, Isotta Fraschini and Lancia Flying Star of the Thirties, an exceptional series created by Touring and still considered the best interpretation of Marinetti and Boccioni’s Futurism.

The Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera style is first expressed through perfecly balanced volumes (reduced front overhang, front central engine and large rear overhang). The result is a dynamic form that doesn’t need a lowered waistline. Moreover, the horizontal development of lines create a natural elegance.

The sporty look of the car is underlined by the combination between bonnet and front grille. An element dashing forward the other volumes. Hence the lateral lines of the body: the lower line ends on the rear wheelarch and the upper line dissolves in the rear end of the car. Together they create a dynamic sail shape, as on Flying Stars.

Of course, also the most successful car design is not enough to make an alive and complete object. It must be combined with excellent dynamic qualities, derived from state-of-the-art technical solutions. For the prototype A8GCS Berlinetta Touring, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera studied and designeda body in advanced composite materials, able to give the car lightness, structural strenght and performance typical of top granturismo and obviously respecting all international safety and environmental rules. The result is clear: the style protoype A8GCS Berlinetta Touring is able to enter small series production, gaining immediately a top place among the best sports cars.

The A8GCS is a strict two-seater, unlike the car on which it's based which features a 2+2 seating layout. Touring Superleggera have made extensive changes to the car's bodywork while still retaining similar proportions. The styling details like the minimalist chrome trim and classic wire wheels give the car a distinctive retro vibe, while also not being unnecessarily nostalgic.

"We wanted a strong project" - says the Belgian Head of Design of Touring Superleggera, Louis de Fabribeckers - "I drew from the stylistic heritage of Touring the work of surfaces and also this sinusoidal line across the side of the Berlinetta".

The Touring Superleggera A8GCS Berlinetta is 4.2 metres long and only 1.2 metres high. The engineers are aiming for a 1,500 kg (3,307 lb) weight for the finished car - 180 kgs (400 lbs) lighter than the Maserati GranSport.

2010 Sbarro Autobau Sports Cars Concept

Swiss performance car and replica builder Sbarro introduced another new concept at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show this year.  Powered by a 500-horsepower 12-cylinder engine from Ferrari, the Sbarro Autobau is certain to tear up the pavement.

2010 Sbarro Autobau

Whether you love it or hate it, the Autobau is the only car of its kind at Geneva. While we mention the three-pointed front end, a la Speed Racer, it has also been compared with the Cylon Raider from Battlestar Galactica and the Pink Panther-mobile.

Designed by Frank Sbarro, the one-off concept is just wrong from every conceivable angle. The recessed front end looks like something out of a horror film, complete with what appear to the naked eye as limb-shearing saw blades. The flat windshield. The flaring nostrils. The up-swinging cockpit entry. Wrong, wrong and wronger.

The only thing right about the concept is the 550 hp Ferrari V12 engine fitted in back. But even that waste of a good engine should be construed as indisputably wrong.

Wow, we thought we’d seen some weird, head-jerking concepts and sports cars in Geneva already, but this one takes the pie–probably the entire bakery. The car was built as a piece of hate-art an homage to Swiss racing legend Fredy Lienhard.

Some of us were just barely mastering our Big Wheels back in the 1970s, but we imagine most of the concepts at those Salon de Geneves all looked hairy and wild. You know what we're talking about. Star Trek meets George Barris design language, lower than your waist, nonsensical ingress/egress mechanisms, $5 afterthought interiors and colors pulled from the center of only the finest quaalude trips. Kinda like SEMA cars actually, but with European sensibility and sophistication.

Meet the Sbarro Autobau, a concept car we know almost nothing about but really enjoy looking at. Yes, it's totally non-conventional (hey, it's a Sbarro), and according to the Francais-only marketing material the Autobao is a tribute to Swiss racing stud Fredy Lienhard. It's also (supposedly) packin' 12-cylinders, 500 horses and weighs about 3,200 pounds.

Sbarro designed the 1,500-kilogram car in the memory of his friend, Fredy Lienhard. The Swiss driver of car races has competed since the 1970s. He has had outstanding victories at the 24 Hours of Zolder in 1997 and 24 Hours of Daytona in 2002.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9 - Pagani Exotic Sports Cars

A decade later, Pagani Zondas remain near the top of the exotic sports car list. They've been tested fast in a straight line, reaching 0–60 mph in the mid-3-second range and proved able to get around the Nürburgring in a video game-quick 7:27.82.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

Every Zonda features another highly prized quality among exotic cars: rarity, with fewer than 100 in existence.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

While lacking the classic, flowing beauty of a Pininfarina-designed Ferrari, the Zonda's shape is an attention-getter. It stops you in your tracks. We didn't think the design would age well, but a decade down the line it still rivets attention and holds it — from that low nose with its four small headlamps back to the big center exhaust port corralling four outlets. A photographer's dream.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

The attractive interior is a mix of modern (carbon fiber), retro (toggle switches) and art deco (the design of instruments and controls) accented with aluminum and fine leather.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

That Zonda body style is done as a sports coupe or a roadster in three levels, all with a mid-mounted 7.3-liter AMG/Mercedes-Benz V-12. The S version comes in at 555 bhp and 553 lb.-ft. of torque, the F with 602 bhp and 561 lb.-ft., and the F Club sport dynos at 650 bhp and 575 lb.-ft.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

All use 6-speed manual transmissions, Brembo disc brakes and have the sort of A-arm suspensions you'd expect in a race car. Plus the level of suspension and aerodynamic tuning that allows 210-plus-mph top speeds.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

Being in a Zonda at speed is a pure exotic-car moment. Like a Ferrari Enzo, there are nicely crafted touches from the museum-quality carbon-fiber finish to air conditioning that keep this from being a race car on the streets. Still, you are not cushioned or coddled or kept from enjoying the unfiltered fun of a truly fast machine. One with a price that likely will soak up $500,000 or more.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

Sadly, the Zonda is nearing the end of its run. But don't mourn the supercar too much as the next step Pagani takes is pointed at the U.S.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

Zonda production will round out at 100 with an added model called the R, a track-oriented version in the image of Ferrari's FXX. Looking like a still-more-aggressive Zonda — if you can imagine such a thing — the R will have a 750-bhp version of the AMG V-12.

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

While that project is being wrapped up in the original factory in San Cesario sul Panaro, both a new factory and car are being prepped for 2009. Code-named the C9, the new Pagani will be a carbon-fiber machine, possibly powered by a Mercedes/AMG V-8, so how about the SLR's supercharged V-8 with its 617 bhp and 575 lb.-ft. of torque?

2011 Pagani Zonda C9

Here's the best news: Having been frustrated in attempts to certify the Zonda in the U.S., Pagani will design the C9 for sale worldwide. We might see the new car at the 2009 Geneva show. Although there haven't been any concept drawings yet, we can count on the new Pagani being exciting...and fast. And expensive.

The Zonda nears the end of its run, but a new exotic is in the offing from Horacio Pagani.

2011 Pagani C9 Sports Car Concept

Argentine-born Horacio Pagani’s sports-car company—Pagani Automobili S.p.A., based near Modena, Italy—has been hand-building the exquisite mid-engine masterpiece known as the Zonda since early 2000. 

Pagani C9

But now Pagani says the time has come to produce “a brand new car from concept.” The Pagani Zonda has served as one of the most exotic sports cars in the world for 10 years running. Now it’s time for an all-new model: the C9.

Pagani C9

Here we have the best spy shots in the past time that we’ve seen and I bet that you will appreciate them very much because of the details that they are revealing caused by the distance that the photos were taken and also because it was not on the road.

Pagani C9

Unadulterated, bombastic carbon-fiber insanity--the current Pagani Zonda and its several variants are the embodiment of what it is to be a supercar. And its replacement, the C9, looks set to have even more more, and it'll be headed to the U.S., as well. 

Pagani C9

Sadly, these latest spy shots show the car in a very unfortunate state. The driver of this prototype managed to lose control and crash into a center barrier of a highway in Germany while testing the car at high speeds. Fortunately, he was left relatively unscathed.

Pagani C9

This 2011 Pagani C9 will come with a 6.0 liter V12 engine sourced from Mercedes-AMG which is able to develop up to 700 horsepower and also a maximum torque of 737 pound-feet. I may say that this is pretty amazing but taking a look at the shapes of this car, it is pretty understandable the power that it comes with.

Pagani C9

Thanks to a sharp eyed guy in South Africa we got some photos of the new Pagani Supercar, the C9. It will feature a 6.0 liter V12 Mercedes-Benz AMG engine delivering some 700 horsepower and 1000 Nm of torque. When the production in on in late 2010, the Pagani will cost around € 900.000 so you still have some time to save your money.

Pagani C9

BTW, anyone have a sticker for me, Highspeed testing vehicle and thats even Gouverment approved.

Planned production is tipped at just 60 cars per year, though that's an almost four-fold increase from the current 16 hand-built cars per year. The boost comes from a planned move to a new production facility. Construction will still be a painstaking process, however, as the C9 is a new car from the ground up, with 3,770 new parts. As Pagani ramps up for C9 production, the Zonda will slowly cease construction by September. Expect a debut towards the end of the year.

Audi A0 QS Sports Car Concept

This small and dynamic sports car is created by Russian designer Alexander Tiganova, the Audi A0 QS concept is an eco-friendly sports car, equipped with a hybrid drivetrain, consisting of an electric motor and a hydrogen engine.

Audi A0 QS Concept

The Audi A0 QS is a stylish and innovative automobile concept with stunning aesthetics and great performance. Q stands for four-wheel drive, while S stands for sports. This small and dynamic sports car has been specially designed for athletes and rich people to enhance their active lifestyles.

Audi A0 QS Concept

The concept vehicle comes with electric motor and a hydrogen engine, due to which the car is entirely hybrid. Some of the most significant features of the car include a special rotation system of the wheels with an analogy of the three-wheeled trike, making the wheels able to bend without rotation along the vertical axis.

Audi A0 QS Concept

The “Q” in the concept car’s name stands for four-wheel drive and the “S” for support, according to the designer. This Audi concept car’s doors are made from a rubber fabric, that can turn transparent, depending on the driver’s needs. With a length of just 3.4 meters, this futuristic vehicle would have a great advantage when driving on busy urban roads, or when parking.

 Audi A0 QS Concept

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept With BCI System

The Mercedes Benz Cyborg Sensation Vehicle, or C.S.V., is a concept car imagined by Chinese designer Derek Chik Kin Ng. The C.S.V. is an off-road capable, two-seater supercar, Inspired by the Mercedes F400 concept, designed back in 2001, is targeted to young adventurous professionals in 2040.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

Its pretty obvious, (thanks Captain Oblivious) what the core concept of this vehicle is just by name. Technology and organics are bound to merge sooner or later. Imagine driving just by thinking. When you sit in the drivers seat, your though patterns are sent to the vehicle, thus becoming an extension of your body. Theres no need for analog controls.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

Mercedes F400 concept has served as the inspiration when creating this concept car of the future. It foreshadows a fully integrated driver interface, providing “driving…by thinking”.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

The interesting part about this Mercedes Benz concept is that it has no steering wheel, no pedals, but this vehicle can be controlled with the power of mind instead. It uses a system named Brain Computer Interface (BCI), which creates a connection between the car and its driver, through a specially-designed helmet.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

This way, the driver’s brain impulses are gathered by the helmet and transferred to the car, which responds appropriately. Although this principle may sound plausible in the future, its implementation on cars, could prove to be quite a difficult task.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

The implications for such technologies means someday well know how to interpret, map out, and respond to human neural patterns. If you can put that thought aside for a second, lets focus on the design. 

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept

Theres a lot of F400 in there but the designer wanted to give the vehicle an organic flavor, hence the muscle fibers flanking each side, neatly tucking into a hidden skeletal system. The result is a design that takes Mercedes Benz DNA and evolves it into an organic object mimicking its pilot.

Mercedes Supercar C.S.V Concept