CoverEFX Wraps Touareg W12, Gives it 500-Horsepower

Sitting before you is a W12 Touareg Sport Edition swathed in matte gunmetal and gloss-black CFC film, brought to you by Erftstadt-based CoverEFX. The gloss black also gets around to touch-up duty on all trim, including mirrors, vents, and other "hang-on parts", while the tail-lights get a glazed-and-hazed treatment.

But what does CoverEFX have to say about the windows?

"The room climate is optimized – and the "anthracite-style" glass tinting on all windows of the vehicle is a perfect match to this. Sunscreening film contributes to the general sense of well-being, and the living is just better in a room with comfortably adjusted temperature." Plain terms: they're tinted.

The standard 450-horsepower W12 gets its speed limiter removed and breathes better thanks to a sports air filter and Cargraphic exhaust system, upping output to 500-horsepower.

There's also some chassis tuning, but the firm failed to go into details other than, "Electronic equipment makes the chassis even more sportish, and yet comfortable at the same time. The body lowering has been optimized electronically at the chassis level. So now where other powerful vehicles lose their stability, the W12 Sport Edition easily maintains its steadiness on the road."

Lastly, CoverEFX's behemoth rolls on 22-inch powder-coated Kahn RS-L alloys wrapped in Pirelli Scorpions and..."refined"...with red pinstriping.

This one's limited to just 500 units priced at €140,500 (~$189,000), so get them while they're around.

By Phil Alex

New Seat Alhambra MPV: VW Sharan's Twin Brother Officially Revealed

Today, Seat lifted the wraps off its all-new Alhambra people carrier that will go on sale across Europe this summer. If you've seen the latest generation Volkswagen Sharan that was unveiled at last month's Geneva Motor Show, then the Alhambra will come to no surprise.

In fact, aside from the Alhambra's unique fascia and tail lamp designs, the two MPVs are identical. Same goes for the interior as the only difference between the Alhambra and Sharan concerns the steering wheel hub.

Measuring 4.85 meters in length, the new Alhambra is 220 mm longer than its predecessor, while it is also wider by a full 90mm.

It features large sliding doors with optional electric operation and can seat up to seven passengers in three rows of seats.

When configured as a five-seater the Mediterranean-flavored Sharan has 885 lt of load space available, which grows to a cavernous maximum of 2,297 liters if only the front two seats are in use.

Unlike its predecessor if more storage room is called for the second and third-row seats need no longer be removed as they can be sunk into the vehicle floor using the "Easy-Fold" system.

In addition, the middle row seats can also be arranged longitudinally, with integrated child seats available as an option.

Underneath the skin, there's a new engine line-up with TSI petrol and TDI diesel units, all equipped with fuel injection and turbocharging as well as Start-Stop system and brake energy recovery technology.

There are two TSI units producing 150- and 200-horsepower, and two 2.0-liter TDI engines delivering 140HP and 170HP.

Toyota Set to Pay $16.4 Million Fine "To Avoid Litigation" on Sticky-Pedals

Today Toyota agreed to pay it's relatively meaninglessly 16.4 million dollar fine regarding its sticky-pedal recall.

Meaningless not only because that the capped fine is less than a drop in the bucket to Toyota (Automotive News reports it will be below 2% of net income for the financial year ending March 31), but also because they're side-stepping all real penalties in relation to the safety debacle they caused.

Without a cap, fines could have been up to $6,000 per vehicle, or $13.8 Billion total.

According to Toyota, "We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations. This will allow us to focus on delivering safe, reliable, high quality vehicles for our customers and responding to consumer feedback with honesty and integrity."

Toyota goes on to say they regret the NHTSA's decision to seek the civil penalty, they in no way violated the Safety Act, and that they did not hide any safety defects.

Furthermore, new steps have been taken to make their improve quality assurance operations, including strengthening "information-gathering capabilities to respond more quickly to customer concerns and investigate potential quality issues more aggressively" (no word on how they did that) and appointing a Chief Quality Officer for North America.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood disagrees with Toyota a bit, saying, ""I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly...By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk."

Toyota has 30 days to pay the fine, which is expected to be in the form of an electronic transfer.

After that little drop is paid off, Toyota has a couple more problems on its hands: 1) there may have been multiple defects, leading to more than just the one $16.4 million fine, and 2) the 180 lawsuits seeking class-action status and 57 individual suits "claiming injury or deaths" related to the recalls.

By Phil Alex

Volkswagen Unveils Milano Taxi EV Concept at Hanover Trade Show

A new member has been added to Volkswagen's Up! city car concept series. Revealed at the Hanover Trade Show, the Milano Taxi is a potential prototype for a new generation of emission-free taxis powered by an electric motor.

The mini-MPV-esque show car measures just 3.73 meters in length, 1.66 meters in width and 1.60 meters in height, making it shorter and narrower than the Fox. It features a single swivel-sliding door on the passenger's side that opens in a forward direction.

Volkswagen says that the Milano Taxi concept is capable of carrying two passengers at the rear in comfort with legroom at the back measuring a luxury-saloon-rivaling 120mm. To improve space, the car uses the front passenger seat to carry luggage.

Special features include an iPad-like LCD display mounted on the reverse of the driver's seat that allows rear passengers to see an overview of the route being taken, pay the fare or change the climate functions in the back of the vehicle.

The driver gets similar screen that can be personalized to show any combination of information relating to the vehicle systems, passenger fare or navigation functions.

The Milano Taxi is motivated by an electric motor capable of generating a peak output of 115-horsepower. Energy is provided by a lithium-ion battery integrated into the underside of the vehicle with a storage capacity of 45 Kilowatt-hours.

Weighing in at a hefty 1,500kg or 3,306 pounds, the Milano Taxi can travel at speeds of up to 74 mph or 119 km/h and up to 186 miles or about 300 km between charges.

The German maker also claims that the charging time of the lithium-ion batteries has been substantially reduced with over 80 per cent of its total capacity being reached in just over an hour.

Volkswagen plans to have its first all-electric model on the road by 2013.