Hurst is no stranger to offering up special edition Mopars. The 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst packed a 440ci “TNT” V8 with 375 horsepower, as well as a fiberglass hood and trunk, Satin Tan leather interior, and a Spinnaker-White paint scheme with gold trim. Ok, that was almost 40 years ago, but Hurst is still going strong and planning to renew its Mopar connection with a limited edition Dodge Challenger that’ll make its debut at SEMA this year. The Hurst Challenger will be available in four trim levels and include features like a supercharger system good for 500 horsepower, 5-spoke Hurst alloy wheels, and a “Pistol-Grip” Hurst shifter. Pricing will start at a $10,000 premium over the stock Challenger and could go as high as $20,000 for the top level model. Follow the jump for the press release from Hurst.

Gallery: 2009 Hurst Dodge Challenger SRT8

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Ford, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

A prototype of Ford’s 3.5L EcoBoost engine. Click to enhuge.When Ford announced the EcoBoost idea at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, the main message was that this was a reasonable technology that could be implemented soon, would save people money by improving fuel economy without decreasing performance and that the improved engines would be paired with lighter cars to emphasize the fuel savings. Oh, and then there’s that easy-to-remember tag line that its a V6 with the power of a V8. Ford is moving full steam ahead with the EcoBoost project and will install the first production engines in the 2009 Lincoln MKS. Thus far, there have been hundreds of test engines built at the Dearborn testing facility and these have spent countless hours (well, we’re dealing with engineers here, so these hours were probably actually counted) on the track and dynamometers. Ford is inviting journalists to Dearborn this week to get a close-up view of the EcoBoost technology and AutoblogGreen got to spend a few hours talking to the team and bolting a few parts to the test subject.Read on after the jump for more.Gallery: Ford EcoBoost 3.5L

- by Alborz Fallah

It’s not very often that I’m willing to get up at  6:00am to go for a drive, in fact it’s not often that I’m willing to get up at 6:00am for anything. But Suzuki’s invitation to central and northern Australia to drive the new Grand Vitara was an offer worth waking up early for.

Our journey took three days and involved everything from private jets at a cost of $4000 an hour to helicopters, a camel (more on the dromedary later) and of course, driving Suzuki’s flagship model across hundreds of kilometres of desert and four-wheel drive tracks in the Northern Territory.

Day 1:

Whoever invented the snooze button on alarms was obviously an extreme optimist, ‘another 10 minutes won’t kill …’

Sure enough as I arrived at Suzuki headquarters near Brisbane airport, my fellow motoring journalists (all three of them) and Suzuki staff were all ready to roll.

Ten minutes later a taxicab arrived and rushed us to a private hanger on the outskirts of Brisbane airport. Secretly, I was hoping what ever plane Suzuki had acquired for the trip had at least two engines and that they weren’t the BMW emblem kind.

Thankfully Suzuki had full intentions of getting us to Ayers Rock/Ularu in one piece, which meant we’d a Cessna Citation Bravo, the world’s most popular midsize business jet.

Despite the two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW530 engines strapped on for good measure, a headwind plagued us, which meant a two-and-a-half hour flight to Charleton, stop and refuel and then another two hour flight to Ayers Rock.

At a cost of $4000 an hour flying time plus $600 a day for each crew member, this wasn’t a cheap flight by any means. Eventually though, we arrived at Ayers Rock airstrip and headed for the Desert Gardens hotel.

Here we were greeted by a few other journalists from Australia and New Zealand, plus a huge team of Suzuki engineers and designers and to our surprise, Mr Toshihiro (Ted) Suzuki, the son of the current Suzuki boss and a descendent of company founder Michio Suzuki.

Having met the local wildlife - everything from small lizards to massive lizards and even a few Dingos - it was time to get serious.

Suzuki may be a relatively small brand in Australia, with only about two per cent market share, but in total, the Japanese manufacturer sold 2,405,000 units globally last year and in terms of volume, sits fourth in the Japanese rankings, behind Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Putting it ahead of the likes of Mitsubishi and Subaru.

The release of the third generation Grand Vitara marks 20 years of production for the popular SUV. Suzuki lays claim to the Vitara having invented the compact SUV segment, as it had no direct rivals back in 1988.

The massivegest changes to the new model are by no means visible from the outside, design-wise, a new grille and wider fog lamps are about the most noticeable upgrades, as well as LED turn signal lamps.

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For the first time ever, Audi Sport will offer a race spec sports R8 developed specifically for private customer use in the form of the new R8 GT3.

Named for its competition class not to be mistaken with its Porsche brethren, the R8 GT3 conforms to all official race regulations meaning any average Joe millionaire can enter numerous national and international race series from the showroom.

“Ever since the R8 was unveiled we’ve been inundated with enquiries about a race version. With the Audi R8 we’ll offer customers a racing sportscar equipped with high-calibre technology and the typical Audi qualities, but which is nevertheless easy to handle.” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.

However with the prohibition of all-wheel drive, the R8 GT3 instead uses a rear-drive setup through a newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox.

Power is anticipateed to be north of 375kW from its mid-mounted naturally-aspirated V8 engine lifted from the road-going version.

Its race-bred looks are both wild and functional, with an exaggerated adaptation of the standard R8 kit giving the GT3 the down force it needs for competitive track use.

The interior has been stripped out and fitted with Recaro race bucket seats and a raft of safety features which wouldn’t seem out of place in any elite racing championship.

The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ, with the first models available to customers by mid-2009.

Gallery: In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Dodge Journey R/T

This news comes after speculation surrouding a reincarnated flagship M1 supercar based on the Homage concept was also denied, along with any hope of a new addition to the M range based on the current 1 Series.

As is tradition, the latest M3 CSL - for Coupe, Sport, Lightweight - was to boast a stripped-out, race-hardened interior with a healthy power boost to the newly introduced V8 engine.

“Based on current numbers, there’s most likely insufficient demand for the M3 CSL.” said Willisch.

This decision by BMW arises from a new corporate direction towards greener cars, with greater emphasis placed on hybrids and alternative fuel technology.

Source: CARmagazine

Gallery: Kia Soul Colors

Surprisingly for the Italian legend, these figures were calculated by VFACTS - meaning the prancing horse has achieved this success in Australian showrooms rather than overseas markets.

In a period which saw sales in the ultra-performance market - usually dominated by the German outfit - drop by 39 percent, Ferrari boasted an amazing 37 percent sales increase.

“The Porsche 911 is the traditional sales benchmark in this category, something it achieves with a wide range of models and versions covering a broad spectrum of the market,” says Kevin Wall, General Manager of the Australian Ferrari importer, European Automotive Imports.

This achievement is underlined by the fact that Ferrari competes with a far more focussed range of models at the top of the price spectrum, and must contend with increasing demand and Ferrari’s ability to supply.

Between them, Ferrari and Maserati took more than 35 per cent share of the top market sector, showing that Australian car purchaseers are being increasingly enamoured with the style, exclusivity and performance of the leading Italian car marques.