Norster 600R is a Finnish designed, Chinese built, British Frogeye throwback

There were plenty of reasons to love the Austin-Healey Sprite. Besides being super affordable when they debuted, the Sprite was light and capable of out-handling high-dollar sports cars of the era, not to mention the plucky British styling that was unlike anything else on the road. That combination has helped make the Sprite Mk 1 a sought after collectible, but it hasn’t inspired anyone to come up with a recreation of the car. Until now. Feast your eyes on the Norster 600R.

This, um, unique creation isn’t actually billed as an automobile, slipping instead into the heavy quad classification in the European Union to beat pesky hang ups like crash test and emissions standards. Penned by designers in Finland and built in China, the Norster 600R uses a 580cc two-cylinder engine with a whopping 20 horsepower and 36.8 pound-feet of torque. You aren’t going to be taking the checkers at Le Mans with the Chery-sourced powerplant, especially considering the 1,150-pound unladen weight. Of course, the upswing of such a tiny engine is that the Norster can happily put along at around 50 mpg U.S.

Too Much of a Stretch? Dacia Logan MCV Limousine

When you think about stretch limos, we sincerely doubt that Dacia is among the brands that come to mind. Still, that hasn’t deterred some folks from building one off the Logan MCV, a crossover version of the Renault-Nissan alliance’s Romanian low-cost sedan. Details are thin on the project but in the extremely rare case you have nothing else better to do, there’s a bunch of computer generated drawings of the interior after the jump.

Source: Daciaclub , Via: Vudu84

New Dacia Logan: Subtle Redesign

Four years after the release of the Dacia Logan, the Renault Group released a facelift version of its successful low-cost sedan. Inspired from the 5door Dacia Sandero, the New Logan features a new front grille paired with a redesigned front bumper and larger headlights. Likewise, the sedan’s rear-end features a new bumper, revised tail-lights and a more streamline design for the boot lid. Renault/Dacia’s designers also updated the Logan’s interior that features new door panels and a revised centre console with new controls. -Continued

In terms of chassis upgrades, the front and rear tracks of New Dacia Logan have been widened 7mm either side, which reinforces the roadholding capabilities of the vehicle. On the passive safety front, the 2009 Logan features a new honeycomb structure for the dashboard which reduces the severity of impact to the knees. There are no changes under the hood with the New Logan being offered with the same petrol engines (1.4 75hp, 1.6 90hp and 1.6 16V 105hp) and diesel engines (1.5 dCi 70hp and 1.5 dCi 85hp) as before.

McLaren brings back the SLR for a limited-edition swan song

It’s been a year since the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was discontinued. 2,000 examples of five different variants of the extravagant supercar were made over the course of five years of production. And in its wake,Mercedes-Benz and McLaren have gone their separate ways, both on the track and off. Both have been keeping plenty busy since the divorce, but they’ve apparently gotten back together for one last hurrah.

Apparently created by McLaren as an aftermarket kit for existing models and unveiled at the Essen Motor Show (think of it as Germany’s SEMA), this McLaren Edition SLR packs revised aerodyanamics, steering, suspension and interior. The result is an exclusive swan-song for the exotic McMerc (only 25 examples will be offered), and it looks like it’s mated with a MG SV. Take a closer look with the images below and the video after the jump, where you may notice that the Mercedes part of the equation has been decidedly de-emphasized.

McLaren MP4-12C priced from €200,000

You heard right; McLaren has officially priced its MP4-12C at €200,000 in Germany and £168,500 in the UK. So far, there’s no word on U.S. pricing. For that low price, buyers can expect to slide into a carbon-fiber body structure with a 592-horsepower, twin-turbocharged, 3.8-liter V8 nestled in just the right spot. As you might have guessed, those with the means will be allowed to a certain level of customization, especially in the cabin. McLaren says that it will offer a total of 14 different trim variations indoors along with a host of performance upgrades. You know, in case that kind of power in a 2,866-pound chassis just isn’t enough for you.

The go-faster tricks include a sports exhaust system, carbon-ceramic brakes and a slew of lightweight wheels. McLaren is only planning on cranking out 1,000 MP4-12C models in the first year of production, each of which will be turned out of the company’s new manufacturing facility that’s expected to be up and running by the middle of next year. That gives us just over six months to start sticking away our lunch money for one of these beasts. Hit the jump for the full press release.