I can’t help but find myself daydreaming about the fantastic Alpine A310 after watching the excellent Wheeler Dealers episode with the car earlier today. Here’s a 1977 car in all its wedge glory!
src: californiaClassix
Tag Archives: united states
rare NYC sighting: a modern Alfa Romeo GTV Spider.
Saw this little thing in Soho yesterday, a 1.8 Twin Spark Alfa Romeo GTV Spider. Pretty lovely looking car…..and very rare to see in the US. There was a “for sale” sign laying inside the car, with a price of $15k. I’ve sent an email to the owner just out of curiousity to see what he says (i’m not really interested, however i am curious about the story!). If anyone reading this is interested in buying the car, lemme know and i’ll pass along whatever info i find!
EXCLUSIVE: MTM Horchaus bringing C6 Audi RS6s (and more) to North America!
Well i’ve been gathering information about this for a few days, straight from Francois over at Horchaus (Official Canadian distributor of MTM (V.A.G. tuning company).
It seems that they have worked out a plan with Audi of Germany to be able to bring Audi RS6s (C6, current) as well as B7 RS4 Avants and R8s to North America directly from Germany! To any other Audi afficianados such as myself—this is HUGE news. For a very long time, we’ve been stranded by the products being provided to the US market when it comes to ‘special’ Audis. We did receive the previous generation C5 RS6, but only in sedan form (NO Avant in North America). We also received the B7 RS4 sedan (NO Avant in North America). We are not going to receive the C6 RS6 at all——until NOW!
After creating a working agreement with Audi of Germany in Ingolstadt, Francois and Horchaus have found a way for certain cars such as the current RS6 to be modified according to US Spec BY Audi themselves! After these modifications, the cars are imported into North America (Canada OR the United States) and undergo customs, duty, etc….and are brought here as legal, street-ready versions of these European cars. Since Horchaus is working directly with Audi to ensure the modifications are done to North American spec, this is a whole new way of getting these cars into the United States legally and safely. The OEM spec cars will have an AUDI WARRANTY, since they are brand new from the factory.
The prices of these cars vary, however If someone really wants a brand new C6 Generation Audi RS6 Avant, it’s gonna cost them $115,000 CAD (Canadian dollars) and $125,000 CAD with the 730hp MTM upgrade (including all import, shipping and duty fees).
******As of right now, they have already brought TWO C6 RS6s successfully; one into the US and another into Canada******
At the moment, they have another 4 cars on the way. one R8 (sold), a B7 RS4 Avant (sold), and one C6 RS6 Avant and a C6 RS6 Sedan; which are both available to purchase.
A further reason to be excited, is that Horchaus is currently also evaluating the possibility of bringing other Audis in the same manner; cars such as the current Audi TT-RS and Audi S3. Really exciting stuff, and groundbreaking progress in the world of importing Audis.
Stay tuned to IEDEI for further updates about this as I get more information. So far I only have the pricing for RS6s, when I receive further information about pricing for others I will pass them along! Meanwhile, if you are interested in these cars, follow the link to the MTM/Horchaus website for more information and contact info.
UPDATE: B7 RS4 Avants are CEO company cars, and will be titled as 2nd hand. They are $70,000 CAD (Canadian dollars) and the R8 V10 is $105,000 CAD (Canadian dollars) which is amazingly good pricing….the R8 V10 turns out to much less than a comparably ordered US version.
UPDATE 2: Some people have been asking “well why wouldn’t Audi bring these cars in the first place????”…..the answer was explained to me by Francois. Audi of Germany wants them to go everywhere, the reason why these cars don’t come to the US or Canada is simple; Audi of America and Audi of Canada don’t believe they have a market and do not readily import them here.
Horchaus Website: http://www.horchaus.com/Car_imports.html
Death to the Prius! Toyota fighting new safety problems
As you know, over the past year or so—-IEDEI has posted several articles speaking against the most irritating, useless, and crappy car on sale today: the Toyota Prius.
Through all this Toyota recall business going on, i’ve been secretly hoping the Prius gets involved in the hooplah, somehow destroying its squeaky clean image and ruining its mojo. Well it’s finally happening!
Some Toyota cars accelerate too much……some just cannot stop. The Prius cannot stop. RECALL pending! Phase I of the Prius Destruction Program initiated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/business/global/04prius.html?hp
eBay eye: ’71 Lancia Fulvia Zagato.
Definitely don’t see many of these on sale in the US market…and this one looks pretty great…if only I had some loot burning a whole in my pocket, i’d get in on one of my all-time favourite Lancias.
AUCTION —
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320445395824&viewitem=#v4-36
Alfa Romeo 149 to the USA
Since Fiat is on its way back to the US market, using Chrysler like human traffic to do so—i’m more excited about the return of Alfa Romeo. FOR YEARS now, we’ve been hearing rumours about Alfa’s return to the US. Since 2006 or so, we’ve been holding our breath….but now it seems it would be practical with a foundation built to support the return of Alfa.
The 8C has already been on sale here for several months, but what else will they bring? The latest sources are saying the 149 (replacement for the Alfa 147) will also be making a move stateside, possibly renamed as the Milano.
I think that would be THE wisest car to bring to the US market. Affordable, classy, and a true competitor to the VW Golf, Audi A3, and the next BMW 1-series (out in 2010/2011 probably). If they price it in the low $20k range, keep the styling as shown in the above photo rendering, and bring the old-school Alfa Romeo attitude with it—-i’m pretty sure Alfa Romeo can bounce back in a very positive way in the US market.
COME ON ALFA! Bring it….
(photo sourced from: http://www.clubalfa149.it/en/)
IEDEI 