Articles by Karla Pincott

Mercedes-Benz has turned to chooks -- and one of their idiosyncratic aspects -- to show how the body control system works on the new S-class flagship.The chicken input? The birds have a gyroscopic neck, which means that no matter what you do to their body, their head stays in the same spot.Mercedes-Benz calls the S-Class system Magic Body Control (they also have Magic Vision Control for wipers that spray cleaning fluid, and Magic Sky Control for a sunroof that changes fro opaque to transparent).But Magic Chicken Dance might have served just as well, for this simple and understandable demonstration of how the system scans the road ahead and manages body movement to keep the ride smooth.Watch the video.

When Porsche launched the Cayenne as the world's first performance luxury SUV, people asked 'why?'. After the Cayenne's success, they're more likely to look at the other top-tier brands and ask 'when?'. The global appetite for SUVs shows no signs of being satisfied, and one by one the luxury brands are rolling out their softroaders. Bentley’s has already been greenlighted by owner VW Group, and its stablemate Lamborghini looks set to get production approval for the Urus concept unveiled at last year's Beijing motor show. "We're working on it and it will come, which will be good for the brand," Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelman was cited as saying in a report in industry journal Automotive News. Lamborghini has previously suggested that, if put into production, the SUV could arrive in 2016, but Winkelman, speaking during a showroom opening in Tokyo last week, declined to give timing or further details. "We're going low profile now. I can't tell you much on details now, but when we get close to the launch, we will have more." The Urus is not the first offroader from Lamborghini. Prior to the Italian brand being bought by Volkswagen Group, it had produced the aggressively-styled LM002 between 1986 and 1993, but production faltered and stopped after the vehicle failed to attract the military attention it was targeting. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

The Lamborghini Gallardo is about 10 years old and is well due for retirement and a replacement. Cue the Lamborghini Cabrera. That's the working name of the car that will replace the Gallardo, and the latest images -- snapped while the Cabrera was testing at the Nurburgring circuit in Feb -- show it's echoing the long lean lines of the Aventador.The new entry-level supercar is tipped to be powered by an updated version of the 5.2-litre V10 engine found in the current model, but with extra output extracted to hit 447kW -- a hike of about 40kW over the current base model Gallardo and 28kW over the top-spec version. Following Lamborghini's naming convention, that could also the a LP 600-4 added to the eventual moniker.You can depend on it having standard all-wheel drive, although it's likely a rear-wheel drive version will continue to be offered. A new seven-speed dual clutch transmission is set to replace the aging e-gear automated manual, but there's little chance of a pure manual shifter.Aluminium and carbon fibre will largely comprise the construction to help save weight, with a drop expected from the Gallardo's tare mass of 1600kg (1470kg for the rear-wheel drive).The Cabrera is tipped to arrive late in 2014, and Volkswagen Group-owned brand will be sharing the Lamborghini platform with stablemate Audi for its second-generation R8, which should arrive about a year after the Lambo.This reporter is on Twitter: @karlapincott

An extra attraction has joined the Opera House and Harbour Bridge at Sydney's Circular Quay. Honda has installed a large reflective cube that interacts with passing people, with a soundscape that changes as they approach. Embedded in the cubes surface are spyholes, through which you can view 45 video clips representing dreams, while the surface features quotes from 'famous dreamers' – including the carmaker's founder Soichiro Honda. The Dream installation was developed under the creative direction of the Precinct group's Daren Natale, and is constructed of laser-cut highly-polished stainless steel designed to mirror its surroundings. Honda is using the project to reinforce its longstanding 'Power of Dreams' tagline, and to promote their 'Power Your Dream' competition that offers the winner $50,000 to achieve their own dreams. "This installation was created from Honda's philosophy of dreaming," Honda Australia director Stephen Collins says. "Honda was founded by one of the world's biggest dreamers, Mr Soichiro Honda and we are always looking for opportunities to continue this proud heritage of pushing boundaries, thinking laterally and dreaming big." This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Hyundai has given a look at the first of its show cars headed for SEMA in November: a loudly blue Genesis Coupe modified by Bisimoto Engineering.Based on a Hyundai Genesis 3.8 R-Spec, the concept added two turbochargers to the donor car's naturally aspirated V6, which also gained a raft of other changes, including forged pistons, a bigger fuel pump to feed the unit and the aggressive exposed radiator look of an intercooler to cool it -- resulting in a power output of 745kW.Yes, 745kW -- 200kW more than a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. In fact, it also trumps the Bugatti Veyron's 736kW. The Bisimoto Genesis Coupe sports an eye-gouging blue paint job set off by carbon fibre and black panels, and rides low-slung on 20-inch Incurve aluminum wheels.The cabin gets track-ready kit, including a roll cage, racing seats and harnesses --fitting with Hyundai's statement the Bisimoto Genesis aims to blend "the reliability of a street car but with the outrageous power of a no-holds-barred racer." Hyundai and other carmakers will be revealing other outrageous concepts ahead of SEMA's opening in Las Vegas on November 5.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

The Mitsubishi Mirage has claimed the 2013 crown for the lowest running costs of any new car on the Australian market

Take some high-tech projection mapping software, an empty warehouse, an F1 driver and the new Lexus IS Hybrid and it becomes the recipe for the world's first full-sized, real time video game. Created for the Italian branch of Lexus, to launch the Hybrid IS there, the project chose 10 of the brand's Facebook fans and paired them with F1 driver Jarno Trulli and a projection mapping iPad app to compete against each other.Each had to design a race circuit, then ride shotgun with Trulli while tracing their course on the iPad, which projected their circuit onto the warehouse floor. Called 'Trace Your Road', the competition set the task of hitting seven designated touch points while completing the circuit in the fastest time.  Watch the 'Trace Your Road' video game action.  This reporter is on Twitter: @Karla_Pincott  

While Russia is prepping for the Olympic Games, they've come up with what we think should be a new Olympic sport: the tank biathlon. The first one was held last month, pitting crews from Russia against three ex-Soviet countries -- Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia -- in three rounds: two of shooting and one of obstacle-dodging. All competed in T-72Bs tanks in three laps of a 6km obstacle course, with each lap involving a different challenge. The first leg saw them race the distance while using the tank's primary gun to try and hit targets up to their maximum range of 2.2km away, with each missed target costing a 500-m penalty lap. The second lap had them using the tanks’ back-up 7.62mm coaxial machine gun to hit targets between 600-700m -- again with penalties for missed ones. The third part raced the tanks across an obstacle course that included a minefield, roadblocks, bridge, ford and scarp, with any missed or touched obstacles incurring a 10-second penalty. Russia took the title for the inaugural event, and is already looking at mounting another next year with the US, Germany and Italy already invited to compete in their own tanks to prove which countries have the best technology and training. Watch word first tank biathlon video here. We can see only a couple of problems so far. They seem to have overlooked Australia's tank capability, and the potential to host the next event at a more appropriate venue. This is just the sort of action that would liven up the Summernats or the Gold Coast V8 Supercars round. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Porsche has revealed the new 911 Turbo and Turbo S convertibles ahead of their debut at November's Los Angeles motor show. The droptop duo echoes their recently launched hardtop siblings with the widest body yet seen in the 911 range, to which has been added a lightweight magnesium-framed fabric roof that closes in 13 seconds at speeds up to 60km/h.Both are powered by Porsche's new turbocharged 3.8-litre boxer six-cylinder delivering 383kW of power and 660Nm of torque in the Turbo Cabriolet and 412kW/700Nm in the 911 Turbo S, with 30 per cent improved fuel economy of 9.9L/100km (and 231g.km CO2) on the European cycle.The PDK dual-clutch transmission is now standard, however while the manual entry level version of the 2012 range is gone, the entry price has dropped slightly from its $390,000.The order books have already opened on the cars in Australia, with prices set at $388,800 for the 911 Turbo Cabriolet ($10,000 less than the previous model). However there's a rise of about $21,000 on the 911 Turbo S Cabriolet at $463,100 -- plus onroads.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

This is the beast that spearheaded prestige performance SUVs and became the benchmark for the field