Covini Engineering is a small company dedicated to constructing innovative automobile prototypes, as well as other experimental crafts. Back in 2005, they came up with the idea to add an extra axle to the front of a supercar to increase the car’s braking abilities, comfort, and directional stabiliy.

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Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. , the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today that it would provide an integrated navigation system for the new 2009 Suzuki SX4 as standard equipment. The program marks the first time in America that a vehicle under $16,000 will include GPS navigation as a standard feature.

"We're delighted to work with Suzuki to make Garmin navigation standard equipment on the Suzuki SX4," said Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of worldwide sales. "The device includes a fully integrated mount that allows for elegant mounting inside the vehicle, but also makes it easy-to-remove for adventures on foot. And Suzuki has customized it with its own set of fun and useful destinations and points of interest."

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BMW is marketing the X6 as an entirely new class of vehicle. As such, it's trying to catch people's attention in a revolutionary way. Utilizing hologram technology developed by the Dutch advertising firm, viZoo, a ten-foot long light-controlled area, the system will display a three-dimensional, interactive image of the X6 at four different locations in New York between April 21st and May 16th. The system is manipulated through a touch-screen mounted outside the display and allows participants to view the X6 from a variety of angles, check out the interior and get a run-down on the vehicle's stats.

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GM announcd that it plans to cut a shift at four North American factories that produces pickups and SUVs. The cur means the General will be laying off about 3,500 workers. Of course all this comes as a response to sluggish sales in the respective segments and high gasoline prices.

GM said the cuts mean the company will produce about 50,000 fewer SUVs and 88,000 fewer pickups in 2008.

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The Venturi Fetish was first shown at the 2004 Paris Motor Show and will go into production this year, but Venturi first wanted to give the Euro 100,000 electric sports car an upgraded engine. This engine is called the VM 300 and produces 300 hp (220 kW) with 380 Nm of torque while weighing just 35 kg.

The Venturi Fetish was designed by Sacha Lakic and will be entering the newly established electric premium segment with the Fisker Karma and Tesla Roadster.

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Blazing toward 8400 rpm in sixth gear on an autobahn in a BMW M3 is already intense. Doing it in the brand-new Convertible -- roof down with a more direct sonic route from eight open throttles and four fat tailpipes to your ears -- is more intense still. Doing it with the brand-new M DCT double-clutch transmission, the shift lights blinking, just a finger-tap from an instantaneous (and we mean instantaneous) shift to seventh? Well, that's probably all the intensity most of us will ever need.

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Saleen is offering for the first time its high performance 302 cubic inch (5.0L) premium V8 engine for sale as a standalone crate engine through its SpeedLab Aftermarket Division. The engine will be available in either short block or long block varieties and in either naturally-aspirated or supercharged forms.

Based on the 4.6L 3V Ford aluminum block, the entire internal package is upgraded with Saleen engineered forged pistons, rods, crankshaft and valve train components, and camshaft profiles. Power will range from 390hp in the naturally-aspirated version and up to 580hp for the force-fed unit.

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The most powerful series production Passat ever built is now available for sale in the UK market. Offered in both sedan and estate bodystyles, the VW Passat R36 is equipped with a naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre V6 engine developing 300Hp and 258 lbs ft of torque. Drive is channeled via a six-speed DSG gearbox through a 4MOTION all-wheel drive system that can divert torque to either axle depending on the grip available.

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Fast, fun and fabulously good looking, a new version of Ford’s performance flagship Focus goes on sale at dealerships across Great Britain from May 1. Created by Ford TeamRS, the company’s dedicated performance vehicle arm, the 2008 Focus ST benefits from the new exterior and interior styling changes introduced across the rest of the Focus line-up earlier this year. Importantly though, while offering new technologies and features, the car’s well-honed dynamics remain untouched.

At the heart of the matter is the familiar 225 PS, 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder Duratec engine. Powerful, and accompanied by a suitably sporty soundtrack, this powerhouse delivers a potential 150mph top speed in tandem with 0-62mph acceleration in just 6.8 seconds.

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Alfa Romeo UK is to launch a special-edition, Prodrive-tweaked version of the Brera coupe in mid-June, according to reports on Italiaspeed.com.

Called Brera S, it will come with the 2.2 JTS or 3.2 V6 petrol engines only, and will feature specifically-tuned suspension, a number of lighter-weight components and unique trim detailing, with bespoke 19" alloy wheels and 'S' badging.

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Edo competition Motorsport GmbH, one of the top names in sophisticated modifications of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche cars is now introducing the brand new edo 630 Scuderia aerodynamics package for the Ferrari 599 GTB! The aim was to underline the perfect shapes of the Ferrari 599 GTB and to adapt the aerodynamics to higher top speed and meet the increased cooling demands caused by the improved power output without compromising the styling of the car.

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The FIA Institute and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) have combined technology and expertise to help improve safety in high-speed racecar accidents.

TMC has developed a computer simulation which recreates high speed accidents and their effects on human physiology. Using the new system called Total Human Model Safety (THUMS), the FIA Institute and TMC have been able to study the kind of serious injuries that are difficult to measure with conventional crash-test dummies. The results of the new study are in the process of completion.

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With Volkswagen due to make a decision about the location of its first US factory in more than two decades, the next obvious question is what to build there? We had a chance to pose that very question to Steve Keyes, GM of Public Relations for VW of America. According to Steve, the driving force for the factory is two-fold. First and most obvious is the exchange rate issue. With dollar being worth less almost daily against the Euro, it's increasingly difficult for VW to price cars competitively, especially in the mainstream segments where it primarily competes.

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Chevrolet announced the official power rating for the 2009 Corvette ZR1 this week at 638-hp and 604 lb-ft of torque. That’s 18-hp and 9 lb-ft over the original specs released at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show.

Now what’s interesting is the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V shares major components with the ZR-1 such as the supercharged 6.3 liter small-block V8, except with a smaller Eaton compressor. The CTS-V is even known as Caddy’s ZR1 sedan.

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German print magazine Auto Motor und Sport claims to have insider info that the Audi A5 Cabrio will be revealed at this autumns Paris Motor Show. The A5 cabriolet will replace the A4 cabriolet and Audi plans to start production of the convertible at their own production facility at Neckarshulm. The current A4 Cabrio is built by sub-contractor Karmann.

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