Did Spyker hire the designer of Suzuki's X90?

If this is the way Spyker styles upcoming Saabs, we’re in for some ugly sheet metal on the roads in coming years. Originally launched as a concept at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, the D12 Peking to Paris is aimed at the Eastern European and Chinese markets. Places with newly minted millionaires, but poor roads and infrastructure. After all, you can’t drive the rutted dirt roads to the sweatshop in a Pagani Zonda, can you?

Is your Ferrari Enzo not getting you the attention it once did? Has your Lamborghini Murcielago started to blend in with the others at your favorite restaurant? Concerned that you’ll see another Bugatti Veyron parked at your country club?

Thanks to a shoestring budget and a disposable income that is disposed of rather quickly, I tend to keep my standards low when it comes to the pursuit of precious performance metals. I’ve been in the market for a new car (read: heavily used but “new” to me) recently and I’ve discovered that despite my rather inhibiting budget, I can still afford to get behind the wheel of even the most prestigious luxury cars – as long as said car has extremely serious mechanical issues. Beggars can’t be choosers though, which means despite the fairly severe issues the water logged Veyron in the clip below will inevitably experience, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the Texas used car classifieds.

Hit the jump to check out the carnage

In New York, an exotic car dealer took a customer’s 2008 Koenigsegg CCX for an ill-advised spin, resulting in the unfortunate crash pictured above. Only one of ten to ever touch down on U.S. soil, the total dollar loss on the damaged CCX was close to $1 million and doesn’t include the amount the dealer shelled out to placate the undoubtedly irate customer. What’s more, not only was the CCX the unfortunate victim of a joy ride gone awry, but a 2009 Porsche GT2 was also reportedly damaged in the accident.

Lee Noble, who has not been affiliated with his brainchild, Noble Automotive, since 2006, has announced that he will be be launching a solo project. The name and the date are still very much up for debate, but sources feel surprisingly confident that Lee will deliver his Noble by 2010 and that it will, if previous Noble products are any indication, rock.

Even more surprising than the blind confidence is the fact that for a car without even so much as an internal source code, there is a wealth of information that has already been confirmed. Accordingly: Noble will be building his pet project in very limited quantities (100 to start) at the Port Elizabeth facility responsible for the Noble M12’s production. The new 2-seat Noble will feature an 8-cylinder gasoline engine capable of churning out anywhere from 400 to 600 horsepower (depending on configurations) that will be mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. It will be equipped with a space-frame chassis, double-wishbone suspension, and steel brakes; the final curb weight will be 2,645 pounds; and for the final concrete fact, it will be capable of hustling from 0-60 mph in under 3.5 seconds.

Apparently after firing the the design team responsible for the brilliant Lagonda SUV, Aston Martin is prepared to take another crack at market relevance. Their plan of attack purportedly includes the introduction of three new vehicles in 2010, at least one of which has the potential to be as colossal a failure as the aforementioned Lagonda.

The first and by far the most controversial of the three new cars is the Aston Martin Cygnet, which is literally a rebadged Toyota iQ. Shipped from Japan to Aston Martin’s Gaydon, England factory and given a cosmetic overhaul, the exterior badging and interior amenities will be exclusively Aston but the powertrain and the basic structure of iQ will remain unchanged. Despite the lack of originality, the Cygnet’s sticker price is still expected to be more than double that of the iQ. This one definitely looks like a winner.

For fans of working-class superhero sportscars like the all-conquering Nissan GT-R, you can rest assured that Nissan isn’t going to rest on its laurels or let the current recession kill their plans to replace the current R35 model. They’re already hard at work on the next model, the R36, according to Nissan’s VP of global product planning Andy Palmer. They’re pegging the product cycle’s length to that of it’s arch-nemesis (on the ‘Ring, at least), the Porsche 911.

If a Lamborghini employee called me on the phone and offered me free a behind-the-scenes tour of the Sant’Agata factory, it would take me about 0.00003 seconds to say yes. Unfortunately, I’m in San Francisco and Lamborghini is located in that country shaped like a boot across the pond. Thankfully the National Geographic Channel have solved the age-old conundrum, sending the team from their series called “Ultimate Factories” off to Italy. The new episode that follows the construction (all by hand, of course) of a brand new Murciélago SV from start to finish. I secured a few short clips that speak for themselves, so make the jump for a preview of the episode (which airs October 1st on the National Geographic Channel).

Classic Porsche 911s have been in the midst of a retro-mod renaissance lately, with lots of money going into taking fuzzy, sentimental visions of grainy oversaturated ’70s awesomeness and transforming it into a real-world rolling art. R-Gruppe cars, love ‘em or hate ‘em, are the ultimate Porkers in this genre. However, Singer Vehicle Design of Los Angeles has jumped into the fray, seriously reworking an air-cooled long-wheelbase 911 into a modern performance car, doing what Porsche couldn’t (as they switched to water-cooling with the 996). As Singer puts it, “… have the evolved water-cooled 911’s proven more enjoyable? Is the drive more fulfilling? What of the magic behind the wheel?” It’s inarguable that the package Singer has put together answers all of those questions. Click through for a HUGE gallery of pics and more info.

Any Ferrari, especially the “entry-level” F430, is subject to a certain subset of buyer whose hunger for flash and excitement overshadows whatever meager driving skills, or rather, common sense, they might have. Case in point, the gentleman owner of this bright red F430 decided to open ‘er up to see what it could do. He reached an honest 180 MPH before a “strange noise” caught his attention. On the way back down from roughly triple the speed limit to somewhere around 120 MPH, the overstressed right rear tire exploded, with predictable results. Take a look for yourself in the gallery below.