Monday, August 20, 2018

#BMW Leaks Photos Of 2019 #Z4 Ahead Of #PebbleBeach Reveal [Auto Styling News]

It has a long hood, short overhangs, a low center of gravity, and soft top. It's the soon-to-be revealed BMW Z4, and BMW has just "leaked" photos of the iconic car before its debut at Pebble Beach later this month. The photos of this 2019 model were leaked on Instagram.

It's face looks aggressive, with a large, aggressive front fascia, featuring an enormous interpretation of the traditional "kidney-shaped" grille openings, and a large scoop underneath, with more openings at the sides.

These are topped by large, fierce-looking headlights, all of which make the BMW hood badge look tiny by comparison. But of course perhaps that the point.

Commentators note that the front is more aggressive and larger than a previous concept vehicle, as are the lamps and mirrors.

The side features a scoop behind the front wheel wells and some sexy sculpted work on the lower door panels that avoid being compared to the "Bangle" days but still evoke that curvaceous era.

The tail is just as smart, featuring wrap-around tail lamps and a built-in spoiler that's not too large for the vehicle. The rear bumper looks like it's melting away, swooping around the licence tag area and dipping down into rear scoops that continue the aggressive, manly look of the front fascia. Dual exhausts round out the look nicely.


Monday, August 6, 2018

2019 #Audi #Q8 Luxury Mini-Ute Features Coupe-Like Elegance, SUV Seating [Auto Styling News]


Sharing a name (Q8) with a Middle Eastern nation probably appeals to a wealthy market there, if that was the thinking behind the name of the 2019 Audi Q8, which shares a platform with the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, and Porsche Cayenne, and aspires to the same luxury lineage.

Combining the elegance of a coupe with the functionality of an SUV, the Audi Q8 debuted in June at the Audi Brand Summit in Shenzhen, China. It will hit US showrooms at the end of 2018.

Inside, the five-passenger SUV offers advanced connectivity, infotainment and driver assistance systems, combined with capable driving dynamics, to set a new standard as the top SUV model from the Audi brand.

The Q8 introduces the brand’s new SUV design language. And it is at once stunning and aggressive. The large, single frame grille with its octagonal shape, combined with massive, highly contoured air inlets, give the vehicle a commanding presence on the road. The LED headlamp fixtures are blessedly angular, as is the entire vehicle, forever putting to bed the "upside-down bathtub" look of the mid-to-late 2000s.

The sloping roofline ends in gently inclined D-pillars and the pronounced wheel arches pay homage to the vehicle’s Quattro DNA, and hint at a couple-like shape, though not as much as, say, the Mercedes CLA. Along with the standard color palate of whites, grays and of course, black, the Q8 will be offered in a stunning "Dragon Orange" (shown here) or a brilliant "Navarre Blue."


A rather handsomely wrought light strip connects the tail lights at the rear of the vehicle, and in an homage to the original Audi Quattro, a black surface underlines and connects this strip. The indenture of the strip is mimicked in the light fixtures, themselves.

As is becoming common on all five-doors and SUVs, a sun-shielding overhang protrudes over the top of the rear window, which will both keep rain and sun from the glass. Rear visibility seems like it will be slightly hindered by the small rear window and somewhat large-looking C-pillars, as is the case with many other 5-door mini-utes.

But the vehicle overall has a gorgeous look to it - more car-like than SUV - which leads one to call this a Mini-Ute, or a full-on Ute. The available 22-inch wheels will definitely give it that appearance, despite the long-ish hood, which takes it solidly into the "car" realm.