Rare And Expensive Cars

Three Italian cars plus one (Bugatti) with Italian origins, make 'the most expensive cars in the world' list. Not surprisingly, three German, two British, one American and French - basically the great car manufacturing nations - cars make the cut. Britain's Aston Martin Lagonda have a few of its awesome cars designed by Zagato of Italy but the Vanguish I believe is British designed.

Love Aston Martin.

Nor is it much of a surprise, I reckon, three Italian cars are present. Many Italian luxury items would be found on such lists.

Image: Pagani Zonda.

One Day A Lancia Will Be Mine

I believe it's the 50th anniversary of the first Lancia Flavia - one of my all-time favorite cars.

Fiat Uno 2011 Around The Corner

The "next generation" Fiat Uno is an energy efficient green car expected to challenge the Mini and Smart cars.

More information here.

Maserati Gran Turismo

She's a sweet ride I say:



A little background. Maserati was founded in Bologna in 1914 by five brothers. The Orsi family bought the company in 1937 and moved it to Modena with the original brothers maintaining an engineering role thus assuring the evolution of the Maserati name and brand. Maserati then passed into French hands when in 1968 Citroen became owners of the company and seven years after that, Alessandro de Tomaso assumed control.

It didn't end there. In 1993 FIAT (you knew it was a matter of time) bought Maserati eventually selling 50% of it to Ferrari itself a related partner to FIAT. After a flirtatious stint with Volkswagen (owners of Bugatti and Lamborghini), Maserati was back in the FIAT universe teaming up with the Alfa-Romeo division.

Robots Head To China

Part of VisLab's Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge, Piaggio's robot-automated (so-called intelligent vehicles) electrical van is set for the 13 000 km Italy-China trek - from Parma to Shanghai to be accurate.

I hope they take a lot of pictures.

Marco Polo for the 21st century.

I grabbed this picture off the  Man on the Move blog.

FIAT Workers: Work Harder

Sergio Marchionne continues his Fiat revolution demanding a stronger work ethic from his employees.

K-Way Motus Drops Out Of X-Prize Competition

Sorry to hear this but once again, the Italians at least are in the discussion when it comes to green car technology.
The K-Way Motus (I keep thinking about my old windbreakers) is a three-wheeled electric car.

Hopefully they'll perservere.

Lamborghini Goes Carbon Fiber

Lamborghini is opening a carbon fiber research center.:

"The Gallardo 570-4 Superleggera dropped more than 150 pounds with the use of Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), which is the process Lambo uses to shape the fiber. It sits at just under the magical 3,000-pound mark.

Carbon fiber can be used for more than just the shell of a car, and the Gallardo Spyder's engine cover is the largest carbon-fiber component ever produced by the auto industry."