Spy Shots: BMW's Answer to the Audi A5 Sportback is the 3-Series Gran Turismo

You just got to hand it to die Deutschen for their imagination and über clever marketing tactics.

What Japanese carmakers simply called liftbacks and the French didn't even bother naming differently as most of their family cars featured a sloping tailgate anyway (Citroen BX, Renault 25 etc.), the Germans came up with all sorts of fancy names.

For example, Audi calls its five-door vehicles with a top-hinged liftgate "Sportback" while BMW went one-step further baptizing its own lineup with the sporty sounding "Gran Turismo" moniker, which is a smart move if you think about it. I mean, would you be interested in a car called the 3-Series Liftback GLi?

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Porsche 911 GT3 RS Door Bursts Out Flying During Race

We're not saying it doesn't happen, but it's not that often you see a door coming off a car during a race without the vehicle coming in contact with another racer.

One such incident took place at last weekend's Losail International Race Days in Doha, which is Qatar's largest city, when race driver Rob Frijns bid farewell to the door of his Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

It looks amusing until the video switches to the dash-cam view of the driver following behind. As you can see, this could have easily turned very ugly…

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Infiniti's Sexy-Looking Emerg-E Supercar Breaks Cover, See the First Official Photos

If you weren't content with the patent images of Infiniti's new supercar concept that we showed you earlier this month, you'll be happy to know that the first official pictures of the study…emerged on the internet today, less than two weeks before its public debut at the 82nd Geneva International Auto Salon.

We will admit that we weren't exactly wowed by the patent renderings, but our opinion change after we laid eyes on the real photos of Infiniti Emerg-E concept.

The Japanese premium brand's study is an impressive looking supercar with what we could even dare to describe as an Italian finesse in its styling. Of course, you'll find Infiniti's latest styling cues such as the pinched rear quarter window and the bulbous front grille, but it all works out nicely.

Infiniti has said that the Emerg-E will be propelled by a mid-mounted range-extender drivetrain comprising an electric motor and an internal combustion engine.

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18-wheeler Flips Over and Squashes Chevy Cruze, Driver Makes it Out Injured but Alive

A male driver of a rental Chevrolet Cruze was involved in what can only be described as a nightmare scenario for any road user when an 18-wheeler truck loaded with cardboard boxes flipped on its side and landed on top of the compact sedan.

The accident took place in the northbound lanes of the Dallas North Tollway in Texas in the late morning hours of Thursday.

The large rig also knocked over the concrete center barrier and hit another vehicle, a black Volkswagen Touareg, hurling it over the median and onto the other side of the road.

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HKS Dyno-Tests Toyota 86 Drift Racer, Prepares New Tuning Lineup that Includes a Supercharger

Famed aftermarket and motorsport specialist HKS has released a new video of the Toyota 86 race car it is working on to participate in the 2012 season of Japan's D1 Grand Prix production car drifting competition. The new clip shows the 86 being tested on the dyno.

As well as the motorsports version of the 86, which you should know by now is a sister model to the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ rear-wheel drive coupes, the Japanese company is also preparing a raft of tuning parts for the production model.

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Melkus Presents New RS2000 Black Edition, Priced at a Hefty €149,900

If you've never heard the name Melkus before, we won't blame you. The German company founded by race driver Heinz Melkus started building racing and sports cars in the mid-1950s before closing shop in 1986 only to reopen again in the 1990s by Heinz's son Peter.

Currently, the company's sole model is the RS2000, the range of which is being expanded with the addition of the new Black Edition variant.

There's no prize for guessing where it's name comes from. We'll just note that according to Melkus, this is no ordinary black paint job but a special black lacquer finish that requires six layers with each layer being sanded separately. The exterior upgrades also include a carbon-fiber bodykit.

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Marchionne Says Fiat May Close Two Italian Plants if U.S. Export Plans Fail

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne may have succeeded in signing a deal with the Italian worker unions, yet decreasing demand in the struggling European market may still force him to take extreme measures.

And while Marchionne does not expect the situation in Europe to improve “at least until 2014", on the other side of the pond, he said that Chrysler's plants are already at full capacity, necessitating imports from the group’s factories in Canada, Mexico or Europe to satisfy a third of U.S. demand.

Therefore, as he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, it’s a perfect opportunity for Fiat’s Italian plants to increase their production and make up for the drop in local demand by exporting models to the States.

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