As we already said yesterday, April Fools is not quite our favorite day of the year. This is the reason we’ve only presented you one, the BMW prank. Still if you want to know the most interesting gags the circulated around the web yesterday, you can head over to Jalopnik and check out their Ten Best…Or Worst…April Fools’ Day Automotive Gags post.

Read More: "April Fools’ Day pranks in the auto world"

At the New York Auto Show, which will start on Wednesday, among a lot of premieres, Pontiac will also unveil the new Pontiac Solstice. Ok, so far so good. However, guess what an autoblog reader found, while he was taking a look around the official Pontiac website. Yup, the Solstice. Not a very impressive image (it’s small and shows the rear of the car) but at least we’ve got something to look at until Wednesday. For more info on the Solstice, stay tuned as we’ll bring you more details after the official announcement.

Read More: "Pontiac Solstice shows up on the Pontiac website"

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the Morgan LIFECar, a stunning concept from the British car maker Morgan. The 30 horsepower (no, no typo, that’s thirty) hydrogen fuel cell concept weights 600 kg and is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8 seconds and reaches a top speed of 160 km/h. Morgan is very prowd of its clean Zero Emissions Concept which also has an estimated fuel economy of 1.8 litres per 100 km (that’s 130 mpg!).

Check out a full photo gallery made by us today at Geneva, after the jump.

Read More: "Geneva 2008: Morgan LIFECar Concept"

There are less than two weeks left before the Geneva Motor Show but it seems that Alfo doesn’t want to wait no more, so they’ve officially unveiled the new Alfo Romeo 8C Spider, the convertible version of the Alfa 8C Competizione. Designed by Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, it sure is gorgeous and we can’t wait to feast our eyes on this beautiful Italian cabrio, at the Swiss show, where we’ll be present to report live.

The Alfa 8C Spider, like its coupe brother, will only be produced in 500 units and its very similar with the Competizione, expect for the hooded top fitted with electro-hydraulic automatic control, which is composed of two overlapping sheets: the external one is made with a multi-thread textile which can withstand the elements, whilst the interior has high sound-proofing qualities.

The 8C Spider will be powered by the same 4.7 liter V8 engine, developing 450 hp at 7000?rpm and 480 Nm (354 ft-lb) at 4750?rpm and mated to a 5 speed gearbox. The coupe version accelerates from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.2 seconds and top speed is 181 mph (292 km/h) but we expect the convertible version to be slightly slower.

Check out more photos and the full press release after the jump.

Read More: "Alfa Romeo 8C Spider revealed before Geneva"

Ever wondered where does the blue and white BMW logo come from? Or why Italians have a horse or a bull on their most known cars? We sure did and we meant to do an article about, but I guess we were too lazy. However, our friends over at CARversation did it first, so check it out. It’s a very interesting article about the histroy behind each major car maker logo. You can read the article here.

Read More: "Car makers’ logos history"

A few days ago, the new Mercedes Benz CLC (which is actually the new SportCoupe) was introduced. The SportCoupe was never a big success for Mercedes, because it’s not a hatchback, it’s not a coupe, it’s something in between, which I don’t think has too much appeal. Anyways, since they’ve created the new generation, guess it’s worth it for them. I have my doubts, especially considering that the CLC is based on the old C Class platform and I don’t know if customers like that.

However, yesterday these sketches showed up on Carscoop which claims these are the designs that were not accepted by the guys from Mercedes to go into production. What do you think, comparing to the production version, these are better or worse? Check out the sketches after the jump.

Read More: "What the Mercedes Benz CLC could’ve been"

Everybody so excited about the Detroit auto show closing in and Ford wants to cut a little all that waiting, so they’ve unveiled the Ford Explorer America Concept. The new crossover concept has a futuristic design which abandons the classic body-on-frame construction and switches to unibody, this way reducing weight and delivering superior driving dynamics.

The concept is powered by a 4-cylinder 2 liter engine with EcoBoost technology that delivers 275 hp and 280 lb.-ft. of torque or, as a premium engine, a 3.5-liter V-6 delivering about 340 hp. Depending on engine selection, fuel-efficiency will improve by 20 to 30 percent versus today’s V-6 Explorer.

See more photos of the Ford Explorer America Concept and the full press release, after the jump.

Read More: "Detroit Preview: Ford Explorer America Concept"

With just on week ahead of the Detroit Auto Show, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas, we had an interesting premiere, the high-tech Cadillac Provoq Concept. Based on GM’s E-Flex platform we’ve seen on the Chevy Volt and the Opel Flextreme, the Provoq is a futuristic hybrid crossover, which can run on electric power (approximately 20 miles) and CNG natural gas (another 280 miles).

From the press release:
“The concept can drive 300 miles (483 km) on a single fill of hydrogen – with 280 miles (450 km) from hydrogen and 20 miles (32 km) on pure, battery electric energy.

The electricity generated by the fuel cell is distributed to a 70 kW co-axial drive system for the front wheels and individual, 40 kW wheel hub motors on the rear wheels, giving the Cadillac Provoq its all-wheel-drive traction and great driving dynamics. Its 0-60 mph (approximately 100 km/h) speed of 8.5 seconds is a more than 30-percent improvement over the previous-generation fuel cell system and with instantaneous torque to the wheels, it feels even faster. Provoq has a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h).”

View a complete photo gallery of the Cadillac Provoq Concept after the jump, plus the full press release.

Read More: "Cadillac Provoq Concept unveiled at CES, in Vegas"

Hey everybody, missed us? Finally, we’re back from our well deserved vacation, without any incidents or tickets. Hope your holidays were as good as ours and we’d also like to wish you to have a great 2008. And we also hope that you will keep being a part of the Auto Unleashed community and read our blog, share your thoughts and help us bring you the best information in the auto industry.

Now we’ll try to go from “holiday mode” to “working mode” and go through the tens of unread e-mails and messages and, today or tomorrow, expect new articles. It’s good to be back!

Well, that’s about it for this year, because today we’ll be leaving for the holidays vacation, to spend some time with our families. So I guess this would be the last post for 2007. This year has been an outstanding year for us, with Auto Unleashed launched, which had a fantastic evolution as we got to know so many cool and interesting new people. And we hope for you, our readers, the experience was the same. And remember, 2008 will be at least the same, as we’ll be bringing you more news, more photos, more everything about these wonderful things called cars.

With that being said, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and we hope that you have a great time with your families and friends. And of course, on all those trips you’re going to make, drive safe! See you next year!

The Auto Unleashed Team

A few graduate students from North Carolina State University, who have been definitely smoking something, decided to start working on this: 600 hp Splinter supercar made of….wood. Lead by Joe Harmon, they tried to explore the possibilities and limitations of wood as a material, instead of steel, aluminum or carbon fiber, used for most cars around.

One of the most important issues they had to take care of, was all that heat coming from the Cadillac V8 engine used and the solution was to reverse the direction of the cylinder heads, and pipe the exhaust off of the top of the engine. As a consequence, the muffler is integrated into the rear wing.

Ok, so I most agree, one thing this concept is, it’s interesting. On the other hand, on thing this definitely isn’t, and that’s safe. I mean, would you drive up to, I don’t know, 150 mph in a wooden car. This could be mean, but the first word that comes into my mind is…coffin.

You can see the project’s website, here: joeharmondesign.com
Read More: "Splinter supercar made of wood"

The South Korean car producer, SsangYong, is trying to keep up with Hyundai and announced that they’ll soon release a luxury sedan. Choi Hyung Tak, Ssangyong’s CEO declared: “We’ve thoroughly analyzed the Lexus LS430, Audi’s A8, BMW’s 750 and other potential competitors for the launch of this model. Our aim is to compete with those world-class models, not with large local models.’’

Not much info available so far, but the car will probably be powered by a 3.6 liter or 5 liter V8 gasoline engine mated to a seven-speed transmission. And here are three teaser photos of the car, one above and two available after the jump.

Read More: "SsangYong Chairman W teaser photos"