From the Left Field: first pics of Autobots from the Transformers movie!

It seems GM struck product-placing gold when it managed to negotiate with director Michael Bay that all Autobots are going to be the General's products. And so we have the Chevy Camaro concept as Bumblebee (my favourite), Pontiac Solstice as Jazz (so-so), Hummer H2 as Ratchet (really nice, but it should be painted white) and finally a mid-sized GMC truck as Ironhide (did not know this Autobot, but I like it already). In seperate news, the F-22 raptor will star as a Decepticon, as will Saleen Mustang as Decepticon Barricade. GM good, Ford bad? Pure product-placing gold!

Can't wait to see this movie - it's a must-see for any serious car enthusiast! (not to mention fans of Bay's braindead but super-fun summer flicks)

[source: AutoBlog]

From the Left Field: Donkervoort D8 GT

What do you get when you develop the Lotus Super 7 for 40 years and then put a roof on it? An excessively expensive little open-wheeled car with too much torsional rigidity for its own good, I'd guess, but the good people at Donkervoort seem to disagree. Not only that, they think people will pay north of 90k Euro for every one of the limited series of 50 such cars, which come with Audi engines with 180 hp plus. Truly, the Dutch have a very unique sense of humour!

[source: motoryzacja.interia.pl]

From the Left Field: Honda "the Road to Racing Concept"

A stupid name, but the car itself is rather nice, with a wide stance and aggressive detailing. Could give the upcoming Evo X a run for its money... if it wasn't FWD. This will always limit the power they can give such a car, and the handling will suffer. Also, the rims look awfully small - are those 17in?

From the Left Field: Happy Birthday Trabant!

When growing up in Poland I saw a multitude of these shit-boxes, and I remember thinking this was probably the ugliest car in the world. And now the car that motorized Eastern Germany is celebrating its 50th birthday - first introduced in 1957 it was supposed to last 10 years, but because the communist government had no money to work on a replacement and people were still queuing for those, it lasted until 1991.

From the Left Field: Land Rover Discovery/LR3 Cargo

Not really sure there is a single person who'd like to shell out money on a Discovery cargo vehicle, but maybe Land Rover gets some sort of tax break for making these :)

From the Left Field: wacky Seat Leon paintjob

Clearly inspired by the original Seat Leon Prototipo: love the rims, but the high-shine paintjob looks a thousand times better in a hmm... male color, such as the red-wine hue on the concept. Actually, this may actually be my favorite car color of all. No surprise Ferrari nicked it for its 599 Fiorano.

From the Left Field: Formula 1 on ice

Seems not even Bridgestones with spikes could not stop Heidfeld from spinning left, right and center. A cool idea for a promotion event, and would make for a fun new format of a Winter GP. Maybe Mad Max and The Bernie would consider running one in Switzerland, right after they green-light the Night GP in NYC at 2 am and Rain GP in Seattle?

New Cars: Scoda Roomster Scout

Another faux-by-four (it's actually 2WD), at least the Skoda's not that much worse looking than the original. Actually, combine those wheels with the standard body and you have a winner in my books.

[source: CAR]

New Cars: First pictures of KTM X-Bow

When I first saw illustrations of what the X-Bow was going to look like I thought to myself: "there is no way they can make it look this outrageous in the flesh". Well, they managed, and then some! I still don't know why they had to shape the outer edges of the front "bumper" like on a family hatch, but hey, when the rest looks this good, I'm not complaining.

For those of you who did not catch this story until now, the KTM X-Bow (pronounced "crossbow"), is the first foray into four-wheeled cars by the largest manufacturer of dirt bikes in Europe. It runs Audi's 2-liter blown four, here rated at 220 hp, and puts the power down to the rear wheels using either a 6-speed manual or the dual-clutch S-tronic (nee DSG). It's tub is made entirely from carbonfiber (!), just like that of an F1 car, giving the X-Bow immense rigidity and, at 700 kg, low weight. Oh, and it was co-developed with Dallara, the manufacturer of race cars for the Champ Cars, World Series by Renault and GP2 series. Yours in Europe for 27,000 pounds.

[source: CAR]

From the left field: Bombardier Spyder

Seems that Bombardier, best known for its planes, decided to stand more firmly on the ground in 2007. The Spyder is a three-wheeled motorcycle, or a trike. It looks really interesting, but it remains to be seen whether this undoubtedly cool concept offers anything more than wow! factor.

I fear that though innovative, the concept of a three-wheeled motorbike will combine the worst
of the worlds of cars and bikes. It won't offer the safety, comfort and weather protection of the car, while at the same time I doubt it will be as fun to drive as a proper bike, and will surely be less maneuverable.

Still, got to love a trier!

[source: izoom.com]

From the left field: Fiat Palio restyle

I have lost count already, but I think this is Palio's tenth restyling in as many years on the market. And it just proves the old mantra that not even the snazziest detailing can turn an intrinsically ugly car into a looker. Where the Maseratiesque grill looks great on the Grande Punto and Linea, here it's passable at best. Reminds me when Seat grafted the new Ibiza front onto its now-defunct Arosa mini.

If you like it you should hurry, though - rumour has it there is another facelift due for the autumn season ;)

[source: www.bestcars.com.br]

From the left field: Brazilian Fiesta facelift

So, apparently in Brazil they have a Fiesta sedan, which they recently restyled to look like the (soon to be facelifted) Focus C-Max at the front. Combine that with beige paintwork and I'd say they've managed to match Toyota in at least one department: the "yawn!" factor.

[source: CarSpyShots.net]