While the intertubes are abuzz with Lamborghini's announcement of a comprehensive carbon emissions reduction plan, arch-rival Ferrari is keen to show it's keeping pace as the company's CEO has reportedly indicated the direction Maranello is heading with regards to its greenification.

Two approaches which Ferrari chief executive Amadeo Felisa confirmed the company is looking into include turbocharging and E85 bio-ethanol. Regarding the former, Felisa assures that the weight of Ferrari's technical know-how will be thrown into ensuring that turbocharged engines retain Ferrari's trademark high-revving feel, while he revealed that the ECU on the company's latest model, the California, is already ready to burn E85. But beyond turbos and corn-fuel, Felisa also revealed that they're working on a hybrid concept, likely to incorporate the F1-derived KERS regenerative braking system, to debut at an upcoming auto show in the United States following the Frankfurt Motor Show in September where Ferrari is expected to debut the replacement for the F430 line. Sources suggest Los Angeles as a strong possibility for the hybrid Ferrari's debut.



[Source: Car and Driver]

Annnnnnd, we're back. It's a four-man crew this week; Neffie graces us with his presence on this second installment of our relaunched Podcast. Also attending are host Chris Shunk, Sam Abuelsamid, and Dan Roth. Topics range from a post-LA Auto Show retrospective, to the GT-R's acceleration times, official Panamera pictures, and, of course, the gloom in Detroit. It's a tasty hour and nine minutes this time around. Enjoy!

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Well, it was only a matter of time before we got around to posting our people gallery from the auto show. Models were pretty scarce this year in Los Angeles, but they were definitely still worth the effort to stop and photograph. We also had a few celebrity sightings again, although none at the press conferences and only one got caught on camera. California's own Governator made it over for his annual tour, but we missed him. The lone celeb in our gallery was Jerry Seinfeld, who showed up at the Porsche news conference with gorgeous blue 550 Spyder in tow.


Live photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Although we've already seen the Audi Q5 in a variety of forms after its initial unveiling in Beijing this past July, the four-ringers decided to finally show off their cute 'ute in North America for the first time at the LA Auto Show. The compact(ish) CUV is packing the award-winning 2.0-liter TFSI gasoline engine putting out 211 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque through the seven-speed, dual-clutch S tronic transmission, and Audi is quick to point out that with a drag coefficient of just 0.33 and a turbocharged four, the Q5 will be one of the most fuel-efficient offerings in its class. Check the galleries below for more and see our previous post for all the details.

Click image at right for high-res gallery of some random sights from Los Angeles.

While we did a lot of coverage of the LA Auto Show this week, there are always some interesting things at the convention center that just don't make into a post of their own. We've collected a bunch of photos that we thought were worth sharing and decided to just dump them into a gallery so you could experience it for yourself. Click on the gallery and you'll see performers that helped Infiniti launch the new G37 Convertible (above), the Mazda3 designer's colorful choice of footwear, Tony Hawk's dream Jeep, a lemon chiffon Rolls-Royce, an unfortunate quality control issue at Maybach, Hell freezing over (for some) at Toyota, and just a bunch of random interesting cars that we've seen before perhaps, but that happened to catch our eyes in LA. We hope you enjoy our farewell to Los Angeles. We can hardly wait for Detroit in January.


Live photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

The BRABUS edition of smart's diminutive little fortwo is, as we like to say, officially official as of yesterday when the brand pulled the wraps off the new-for-USA model. Unlike the Europeans who have had access to BRABUS smarts for the last few years, we won't be getting the force-fed 112-horsepower three-cylinder engine here in the States, but that means we get to keep the 41 miles per gallon efficiency of the standard smart fortwo. You win some, you lose some, right? It's a nice package that definitely stands apart from other fortwo models thanks to its unique alloy wheels, monochromatic paint in either black or silver and numerous BRABUS emblems inside and out. Want one? It'll cost you $17,990 for the coupe or $20,990 for the cabriolet, which initially strikes us as a fairly steep sum considering it comes with the same 70 horsepower engine of the standard smart. As of right now, only those with fortwo reservations are eligible for the new BRABUS, but that seems likely to change in the near future if the model continues to prove as popular as smart claims it has.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sebastian Blanco and Jeremy Korzeniewski / Weblogs, Inc.

On display at this year's LA Auto Show is a Nissan Altima Hybrid racecar aimed at pleasing the eco-radicals of California, and the folks over at Autoblog Green. The car was first released at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, but the LA crowd is really more up its alley. This Altima is a direct result of the team at Braille Battery pairing up with Nissan North America and Universal Technical Institute. The "Hot Rod Hybrid," as it's called, is a construction aimed at competing in the new hybrid/electric class of the Redline Time Attack series. There are also plans to give it a run in the 2009 Cannonball Run/One Lap of America event. We know the car will be in good hands, too. Driver Blake Fuller is experienced with both front- and rear-wheel-drive vehicles, as exemplified by his finishes in the Pike's Peak hill climb and Formula D drifting events.

The Braille Battery Nissan Altima Hybrid is constructed with great attention to detail. The green eco-friendly DuPont paint initially catches your eye, but the best part can be found once the car passes by you. The exhaust outlets are formed out of leaf silhouettes. No environmentally conscious element on this vehicle is left unturned, even the race seats are a new product from Sparco containing recycled materials. The roof is also topped with battery recharging solar cells. To help the car be competitive on the racetrack, the internal combustion engine is tuned to run on E85 ethanol while being boosted by a Vortech electric supercharger. All in all, it is an intriguing experiment. We look forward to seeing how the car fairs under the wear and tear of many Time Attack battles. More details can be found in the press release after the jump. Also be sure to take a gander at the gallery below for SEMA shots provided by Braille Battery, along with those we captured in LA.

Click above for high-res gallery of these fun '70s Mitsubishis

We might have skipped the Mitsubishi booth altogether this year at the LA Auto Show if it hadn't been for this pair of eye-catching cars from the '70s. While checking out the neighboring Audi booth we spotted a toad-green FTO and then caught a glimpse of what looked like an old F1 car. The racecar turned out to be the last single-seat racer Mitsu ever made, the 1971 Colt F2000. It actually won the Japan Grand Prix that year. It was powered by a 4-valve dohc 1,994 cc R39B that put out 290 PS. It was also one of the first open-wheelers to use those side-mounted radiators that became the standard in many forms of single-seater racing.

The other car was a 1973 Galant FTO GS-R. Fittingly painted toad-green, this little beast had warts all over it. Built between 1971 and 1975 the FTO was a rear-drive coupe that could be had with a number of different Neptune and Saturn fours ranging from 86 hp up to 110 hp for the top option 1,597 cc mill found in the GS-R. A spiritual predecessor to the Evos of today, both are some fun finds here at an otherwise somber LA Auto Show.


Live photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for a super high-res gallery of the 2008 L.A. Auto Show

When the press conferences have died down and most of the cars have made their debuts, we like to roam the halls of the convention center and simply enjoy the cars. This also gives us a chance to take photos of the cars away from the crowds of journalists, and we've put together the 25 best shots of the past few days in a super-high-res gallery meant specifically to adorn the background of your desktop. The photos are available at 1,920 pixels wide to accommodate even the largest of screens (they'll download at that size and can be viewed in the gallery at that size by clicking the "Hi-res" button). Enjoy!

Live photos copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

It wasn't the number one pick of our readers (earning the silver medal in your voting), but Mazda managed to take the top honors at the LA Design Challenge with its KAAN concept. The design itself is a fanciful look into a future where all the roads in California are paved with... um, sub-level electro-conductive polymer (m'kay), which provides juice to the electronic tires that allow the KAAN to reach speeds of up to 250 mph. Up to 30 KAANs would travel together in formations that would cheat the wind, so MAZDA designed the vehicles so that they could fit tightly together in the peloton.

The theme of the competition was to depict what motorsports would be like in 2025. Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles, said that the choice was made because Mazda's entry was "the most innovative and artistic design," and that the KAAN "ultimately brought unique styling back to motorsports." Unique? That seems like a major understatement to us. See all of the contenders after the break


[Source: LA Auto Show]