La Dolce Veloce

Factory Five Racing is nearing completion of their GTM car, with production set to begin around the end of summer! Their goal was to create ‘a supercar for the masses’, using a 1997-2004 Chevrolet Corvette as the starting point (from which they take the engine, suspension, brakes, fuel tanks, and other small parts). They mount those components to a tube frame and cover it with a carbon fiber body. You can read their latest news update here. The kit price is expected to be around $20k, though keep in mind that will not include the donor Corvette or the labor required to assemble this beauty.
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The P8 supercar, originally to be designed and built by Mercedes subsidiary McLaren, has officially been scrapped. Mercedes chief Ekhard Cordes said the reason is that the company is focusing on solving the quality issues plaguing its more common models, but I find that implausible. I find it highly unlikely that the automotive designers and engineers that would have been working on the P8 are now working on debugging production Mercedes – especially as the car would have been designed primarily in England (home of McLaren). More likely, this is just a cost-cutting move.

BMW is rumored to be working on a coupe version of its Z4. The timing is excellent, as it would be going head to head with the new Porsche Cayman and the redesigned Audi TT coming out soon. I’m not sure if this picture is a true spy photo or just a computer illustration. The link to the German magazine with the story is here.

The 2006 Murcielago was spied testing at the Nürburgring (where else!) recently. The visible changes are minor – some tweaks to the front end, and new wheels.
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Porsche has released pictures of its Boxster-based coupe, named the Cayman. Despite having 295hp and 255 ft-lbs of torque, it only manages a 5.1 second 0-60 time. Not bad, but still slower and much more expensive ($59k!!) than the Lotus Elise. In spite of that, the car is sure to sell well, catering to the sports car demographic that still wants a measure of luxury in their cars (and cupholders!). The Cayman goes on sale next January. See the rest of this post for more pictures.
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The Audi Nuvolari concept, first shown at Geneva in 2003, will be built as a coupe version of their next generation A4. Due to its similarity to the TT coupe, my guess is this would replace that in their model lineup (especially as that TT design is quite old). Read more about it here.

AutoExpress reports here that Lamborghini is considering building an ‘entry level’ sports car, priced around $100k. It’s still in the early conceptual stages, so wouldn’t arrive until 2008 at the earliest. The current design philosophy calls for a car similar to the Lotus Elise – one designed more for corners than straight line speed (thus it’d receive either a V6 or V8). It sounds like an exciting idea, and I sure hope they build it as their current cars are still out of my reach!