Articles by Karla Pincott

New British sports car brand David Brown Automotive have issued the first teaser looks and details for their creation -- codenamed Project Judi for now.Echoing the heritage of their namesake, the car looks to be a redux of the hallowed Aston Martin DB5 (itself named for the other David Brown, who headed the brand for decades) and is based on the Jaguar XKR. However the company's press blurb talks of bespoke and "completely original exterior and interior design, realised through the highest quality materials and craftsmanship".It's been announced Project Judi is based on the Jaguar XK-R for reliability and weight-saving strategies. “As reliability is vital, we chose to adopt a thoroughly proven and acclaimed chassis that not only delivers dynamic performance but also lends itself to our lightweight aluminium design," David Brown says.Under the bonnet will be Jag's supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine developing 375kW of power and 625Nm of torque, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels. The company claims Project Judi will do the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.6 seconds -- 0.2 seconds faster than the XKR coupe but 0.2 behind the XKR S -- and reach an electronically limited top speed of more than 250km/h.Project Judi will be unveiled at Top Marques Monaco on April 17, but it's likely we'll see more images and details emerge before then.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

We know goldfish are skilled at some things: swimming, eating and hiding in underwater castles for example. And now it seems they can also be surprisingly good drivers. A team of tech wizards at Studio Diip -- which specialises in innovative image-recognition projects -- have kitted up a goldfish tank with a camera and computer vision software, turning it into a robot car for their finned friends. As the goldfish swims around in the tank, the system detects which way he's heading and directs the car there, essentially allowing the fish to control the vehicle. "By swimming towards an interesting object, the fish can explore the world beyond the limits of his tank," Studio Diip says. The team is also developing new versions of other -- perhaps more everyday -- technology such as number plate recognition, and even vegetable recognition for supermarket checkouts. And they admittedly haven't suggested there's a practical application yet for their goldfishmobile. But to paraphrase a traditional feminist quip about women needing men like fish needing bicycles, perhaps all they were waiting for was a motor. Watch the desktop version of the fish can drive a car video here.  This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Reports have indicated that Schumacher has shown reflex twitches since his medical team started reducing his anaesthetic to bring him gradually out of a medically-induced coma, but he fails to respond to deliberate stimuli.Schumacher has been in the coma in Grenoble hospital since his skiing accident on December 29. Germany's Bild-Zeitung has reported that his wife Corinna remains at his bedside daily and is following the doctors' advice of continually speaking to him, in the hope it will help him to respond.Schumacher has also had a visit from recently-retired F1 team principal Ross Brawn, who slipped in through the hospital's staff entrance to spend time with the driver he helped quide to seven championships during his years with Ferrari.French authorities are believed to be close to announcing the findings of their investigation into Shumacher's accident on the slopes of the exclusive French Alpine ski resort of Meribel.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Subaru has just unveiled the 2015 Liberty sedan at Chicago motor show last week, and it looks like we'll have only a couple of months to wait before seeing the new Outback, with reports it will bow at the New York show in April.Subaru is yet to reveal the engine line-up, but there is likely to be little change from the current 127kW/235Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder and 191kW/350Nm 3.6-litre six-cylinder petrol units plus a 110/350Nm 2.0-litre turbodiesel.Six-speed manual and CVT transmissions are also tipped to continue, with the six-cylinder model following its Liberty basis in dropping the five-speed auto for a CVT also.All will continue to roll on Subaru's all-wheel drive system, and high-specced versions will get the latest development of the brand's Eyesight safety system with larger monitoring fields and better detection of obstacles and pedestrians.The design is likely to follow that seen on the Liberty, with a sleeker face and more sharply raked windscreen, while the interior upgrades are tipped to include higher quality materials to better arm the Outback in an increasingly competitive field -- where non-prestige brands are upgrading their offerings, and premium brands are repositioning to target more volume.The current Outback starts at $38,990 but tops out at $57,990. That puts it within whistling distance to the Volkswagen Touareg, and about $12,000 to the Volvo XC90 and Lexus RX.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Luckily neither the driver nor any spectators at the raceway in Pomona, California, were injured when Capps' car exploded during the National Hot Rod Association 2014 Winternationals on Friday.A backfire in the supercharger occurred as Capps was pushing his Napa Auto Parts Funny Car up to 300mph (482km/h), resulting in a massive fireball and the rear of the car exploding off.The close-up view shows him seemingly stunned and blinking immediately after the explosion, but he was helped from the car and was able to walk away."At first you're not sure what exactly is going on. All of a sudden, the race car you're driving is a convertible, and you see sky and flames and pieces flying," Capps told ABC News in the US. "It sort of takes you a minute to figure out where you're at. I thought... where am I? Then all these safety trucks start rolling up."Capps has also indicated that while the car's body was destroyed, the engine and frame suffered only minor damage and are already being prepared for his next race event. Watch the desktop version of the Ron Capps drag race explosion video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Toyota is expected to make an announcement later today about its manufacturing future in Australia, with the fear the carmaker will close local production operations. Carsguide understands Toyota is telling its workers it will stop making cars in 2017. Sources have said the company is informing the workers at a special meeting in Victoria this afternoon.Toyota has previously said that the closures of Holden and Ford would make it difficult for the Japanese brand to maintain its Australian operations."If Holden were to leave it would be very difficult ," the executive director of sales and marketing at Toyota Australia, Tony Cramb, told Australian media at the Tokyo motor show last year. "I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying it makes it far more difficult. "If Holden goes … it would be more difficult for suppliers .It is expected that Toyota will make an official announcement at 6pm after the Altona workforce has been told. Closure of Toyota's Altona facility in Melbourne would axe the jobs of about 2200 workers, plus cause an extra ripple through the supplier industry. A letter has been distributed to workers confirming the carmaker will close in 2017. The Toyota statement says that it will end vehicle and engine production in Australia, blaming the competitive market and strong Australia dollar had forced them to "make this painful decision".The move means Toyota will import the Camry and Aurion V6 beyond 2017, making the brand a full-line importer here for both passenger and commercial vehicles. An AMWU official described the announcement as "a dark day", adding that workers were devastated by the news.EXCERPTS FROM THE TOYOTA STATEMENTThe decision was not based on any single factor. The market and economic factors contributing to the decision include the unfavourable Australian dollar that makes exports unviable, high costs of manufacturing and low economies of scale for our vehicle production and local supplier base.Together with one of the most open and fragmented automotive markets in the world and increased competitiveness due to current and future Free Trade Agreements, it is not viable to continue building cars in Australia.Toyota Australia President and CEO, Max Yasuda, was joined by Toyota Motor Corporation President and CEO, Akio Toyoda, as he made the announcement to employees late this afternoon. "This is devastating news for all of our employees who have dedicated their lives to the company during the past 50 years," Mr Yasuda said."While we have been undertaking the enormous task of transforming our business during the past two years, our people have joined us on the same journey, which makes it even more difficult to announce this decision. We did everything that we could to transform our business, but the reality is that there are too many factors beyond our control that make it unviable to build cars in Australia."Although the company has made profits in the past, our manufacturing operations have continued to be loss making despite our best efforts. Our focus will now be to work with our employees, suppliers, government and the unions as we transition to a national sales and distribution company. Support services will be available to our employees and we will do everything that we can to minimise the impact of this decision on our employees and suppliers."This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Koenigsegg is the go-to brand if you want a truly insane, limited-edition supercar with extreme design and matching performance. The Swedish company has produced only about 100 cars over a range of seven models since setting up shop 20 years ago. And that number is set to swell by only six with the launch of their most ambitious project yet -- the mid-engined Agera One:1. The first image of the hypercar has just been released, showing a massive rear wing and a nameplate trumpeting Koenigsegg's claim it will deliver one unit of horsepower for each kilogram. That achievement would resoundingly trump rivals like Bugatti, whose Veyron Super Sport -- which holds the world speed record of 431.072km/h -- has a ratio of 1hp:1.53kg. Watch the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport 431km/h world record speed bid video The One:1 is reported to tip the scales at 1340kg dry weight and 1400kg with all fuel, oils and water onboard. So depending on which weight they use for final measurement (and boss Christian Koenigsegg has already been talking about the heavier of the two) that 1:1 power-to-weight ratio translates into the car's 5.0-litre V8 developing either 1340hp or 1400hp -- either close to 1000kW or 1043kW. And either way, that's a considerable rise over the Agera R's 838kW. The brand has already claimed the One:1 will break records, with computer simulations suggesting it could top 450km/h and set new times for 0-200km/h, 0-300km/h and 0-400km/h acceleration. Part of that performance ability will likely come from aerodynamic wizardry rather than simple brute power, with even the first One:1 image showing a novel approach for the high wing, which is attached by fins jutting out from the roof rather than up from the rear deck. We'll have to wait only a few weeks to see more details. The One:1 is set to be revealed on February 26 ahead of a Geneva show unveiling in early March, and then to go on sale for a price said to be around US$2 million ($2.25m). This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

The two-door version of the S-Class Coupe broke cover a couple of days back in a very blurry image nabbed from a Mercedes-Benz in-house presentation. But we're now getting a clearer look, thanks to Austrian site Autofilou.The German luxury brand is likely to give the car an official reveal within days, ahead of a global unveiling at Geneva motor show in March.But even this single photo gives a good idea of what to expect, with the elegant styling having been toned down considerably from the concept that appeared at the Frankfurt motor show last September -- a logical development given S-Class buyers are largely conservative.The cabin will echo that of the S-Class sedan in pushing forward the best and latest Mercedes can offer, including massive touschreen displays, but will offer a different steering wheel, revised wood and metal accent styling and drop the four-door's analog clock.The coupe will follow the engine line-up of the sedan, which for Australia likely means just three versions: an S350 with a 190kW/620Nm 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel and an S500 with a 335kW/700Nm 4.7-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V8, plus the chance of the 430kW/900Nm bi-turbo 5.5-litre V8 in an aMG version. All three engines get seven-speed automatic transmissions, with the AMG scoring high-performance SpeedShift unit for sharper changes.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

It wouldn't be the Super Bowl without an ad featuring race driver Danica Patrick touting for website hosters GoDaddy -- who also sponsored her Nascar Nationwide Series campaign for JR Motorsports.Previous GoDaddy ads have been cheeky and risque, although this time around we get more of a focus on the humour -- albeit seeing a lot of Patrick's body. And it seems to have undergone an extreme makeover for the Game Day commercial, with her sporting a set of pumped muscles that almost shame the bodybuilders racing her to a tanning salon. Watch the desktop version of the 2014 Danica Patrick Super Bowl ad here.  This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

The latest version of Citroen's Grand C4 Picasso people-mover will arrive in Australia with a swag of trophies already under its beltline, having nabbed Top Gear's European Family Car of the Year and Auto Bild's Golden Steering wheel.It remains to be seen whether the awards have impact locally, where under the previous importers the Picasso has failed to get cut-through. The segment sold a total of 81000 last year but was dominated by the Kia Carnival (2847), and with Hyundai iMax (1455) and Honda Odyssey (1001) accounted for 5,300 of the field's total, with Toyota's Tarago mopping up another 960.Against that, the Citroen in run-out last year sold just 61, a drop from the 149 of 2012. Since taking over the Citroen brand to sit beside Peugeot under the Sime-Darby umbrella, it's new minders have worked to reposition the product.As the latest vehicle for that strategy, the Picasso is dropping the two-pronged approach  -- which previously offered both petrol and diesel versions -- and will within weeks have only a single new variant.The Grand C4 is powered by a 2.0-litre turbodiesel mated to a six-speed  torque-converter automatic transmission driving the front wheels. "It is specifically targeting families, and as a seven-seater we decided the diesel was the better option," Citroen PR and communications manager Jaedene Hudson says.The new engine develops 110kW of power and 370Nm of torque -- available from 2000-2500rpm -- and the carmaker claims fuel economy at a frugal 4.5L/100km in combined driving, helped by a stop-start system.Citroen says the newcomer is 100kg lighter than the previous model, putting it at 1520kg, but by the time you add another half-tonne of bodies you could find the fuel needle moves a bit faster down the gauge.The Grand C4 Picasso will go on sale March 1 in a single spec level for $43,990 -- a rise from the $37,490 starting price for the former petrol entry level, and the $39,490 for the previous diesel variant.However Citroen Australia says the difference is more than covered by the extra features that will be offered, including a standard 360 degree camera, standard self-parking, blind spot monitoring and a 12-inch panoramic HD screen with 7-inch multifunction touch screen."We’ve very excited to introduce the all New Grand C4 Picasso in Australia. It’s a people-mover that drives like a car and looks very stylish," Citroen marketing manager Manuel Tyras says. "But it’s also supremely practical with ample space and high levels of safety and technology."The first vehicle to be built on all-new modular EMP2 platform, it will roll on a 11cm longer wheelbase at 2.84m, promising improved space and cabin flexibility. More details and specification will be announced closer to the roll-out date.