Ralliart Closes Shop

That’s it for Ralliart, folks. The economy has claimed yet another victim. Ralliart announced that it will be closing shop effective April 1, 2010.

The drop in demand for Mitsubishi and the overall crash of the car market, however, has forced Ralliart to call it quits.

Fans of the Ralliart badge of Mitsubishi performance vehicles, however, need not weep as the Ralliart models slated in Mitsubishi’s lineup will endure the closure.

Ralliart was established by former racing driver Andrew Cowan as Andrew Cowan Motorsports in 1983. It forged a partnership with Mitsubishi building performance parts and tuning cars for motorsports.

Ralliart has served as Mitsubishi’s motorsport arm building epic machines that won the WRC and the Dakar rally.

Toyota FT-86 with Predecessors

Here’s a sporty family picture of Toyota’s latest sports coupe together with is predecessors – the Supra, the Celica and the AE86.

The FT-86 was initially heralded as the replacement to the iconic AE86/Corolla GT/Corolla Levin/Trueno Sprinter but was also reported as the Celica replacement. Fact is, the FT-86 is Toyota’s latest sports coupe and it does look like it took off from all of these cars.

The FT-86 is a joint project with Subaru. Powering the car is a 2.0L boxer engine from Subaru. The FT-86 will maintain the AE86’s RWD heritage though.

The car’s also built with lightweightedness in mind to give it the agility to round corners. It’s got a proper LSD to boot making the car a possible drifting monster.

A Subaru model with 4WD is expected to come out soon.

New Nissan Micra Unveiled

It’s the Geneva motor show so we can just expect more pictures and details on the slew of debuts. This here’s the unveiled new Nissan Micra.

The Euro-spec version of the car is powered by a choice of two engines – a 1.2L 3-cylinder gasoline engine that dishes out 79bhp and 80 lb-ft of torque and supercharged 1.2L engine that dishes out 97 bhp and 105 lb-ft of torque. The supercharged version will feature a start-stop system as well.

Buyers will be able to choose between a CVT transmission and a proper manual. The car will also have a collection of add-ons like parking sensors with “parking space measurement,” touch-screen sat nav and automatic wipers.

The new version’s built on an all-new global V-platform that’s designed in Japan but will be built in various Nissan plants in Mexico, China, Thailand, and India. European sales are set to begin in Europe.

Proton Concept Packs Lotus Hybrid Drivetrain

It’s great to see Malaysian automaker Proton get into the hybrid business. Besides, they do now own Lotus and a Formula One team. Shame, really, if they don’t come out with better technologies.

This here is Lotus’ Proton concept car which will be showcased at the upcoming Geneva motor show come March. The car is set to showcase the “advanced” hybrid powertrain that Lotus has been working on.

The drivetrain features a 1.2L 3-cylinder Lotus range extender engine complementing an electrical drive system. Unlike current hybrids, the electrical drive system will be the one powering the car and it’s mated to a single-speed transmission.

The internal combustion engine will only kick in to provide an extended range once the battery power is depleted. The batteries are charged by the range extender engine or by plugging to a regular household outlet.

Infiniti M Sports Blind-Spot Warning System

Nissan’s pretty quiet recently ever since the 370Z (and its many variants) came out. Good thing its luxury brand counterpart is coming up with something new.

Meet the new Infiniti M which sports a variant of Nissan’s rear-wheel drive FR platform (which it shares with the 370Z). The M is powered by a choice of V6 engines including a 3.0L diesel co-developed with Renault and the 3.7L V6. A 5.6L direct-injection V8 dishing out 420 horsepower and 417 lb-ft of torque will top the engine range.

Infiniti’s going green as well with a hybrid powertrain thrown in to the mix where the older 3.5L V6 will be mated with an electric motor and configured to work with a 7-speed automatic gearbox.

A piece of interesting tech that the car will pack is a blind-spot warning system to aid the driver in preventing them from sideswiping car and getting swideswiped. Pretty nifty bit of tech.

The 2011 Infiniti M will be priced starting at $46,250.

Toyota to Revamp FT-86 Design

The co-developed Toyota/Subaru FT-86 revival of the famed AE86 RWD street racing icon might get a new exterior say rumors.

We’ve already seen the concept unveiled at the last Tokyo Motor Show complete with color of a baboon’s ass but Toyota might just be going towards another direction when it comes to the styling.

Weird thing is that we’ve already seen a G-Sports version of the car and developing the special body panels would’ve already cost Toyota some money.

It’s Toyota’s decision anyway. If they think using a better shell for their sporty RWD coupe’s the best way to go, then so be it.

We could all just hope that this car’s dependable as heck. Unlike the millions of cars already recalled (and are still recalling).