Horsepower

What would it take to get you into an electric car today? Forced by state regulators to sell more zero-emission vehicles, automakers are tripping over each other to offer consumers rock-bottom lease deals. For the first time, electric vehicles are penciling out cheaper than their gas-powered counterparts. Honda joined the price war this week by dropping the lease on its Fit EV from $389 to $259 a month. It threw in collision and vehicle theft coverage, maintenance, roadside assistance - even a charging station at your house.

Land Rover, citing the New York area's market as its largest in the world for its Range Rover Sport SUV, brought an all-new version to the 2013 New York International Auto Show on Tuesday night. Designed as an amalgamation of the compact Evoque crossover and the full-size Range Rover -- the unofficial minivan of Beverly Hills -- the Sport draws design cues from both. The second-generation Sport is 2.5 inches longer and rides on a wheelbase that's 7 inches longer than its five-passenger predecessor.

If cars were judge solely on the sounds coming from the tailpipe, the Camaro ZL1 convertible would be among finest automobiles Chevy has made in years. This is the grand pooh-bah of today's retro Camaro lineup, and it resurrects the most sought-after Camaro ever made: the 1969 ZL1, of which GM produced just 69 copies. Photos: 2013 Chevy Camaro ZL1 The original featured an all-aluminum V-8, then considered an exotic material. Though it was officially rated at 425 horsepower, dyno testing often revealed the ZL1s to be putting out much more.

Jaguar will use the 2013 New York International Auto Show to kick things up a notch for its full-size XJ lineup. The automaker will unveil a 550-horsepower XJR at a news conference Wednesday. The XJR will be the flagship of the lineup and will use a retuned version of the 5-liter supercharged V-8 that Jaguar currently uses in the lesser XJ Supercharged and Supersport. In addition to the boost in power of at least 40 horsepower, the XJR will also include upgrades to the "chassis and aerodynamic components.

After months of speculation, teaser photos and heavily camouflaged prototypes caught testing on the roads of Italy and the famed circuits of Europe, Ferrari's next-generation supercar was revealed Tuesday morning at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. All this for a car called LaFerrari. And it's a hybrid. That's right; the highlight of the Geneva show and one of the most widely anticipated debuts of all of 2013 is a car whose name translates to TheFerrari. And it's not a Ferrari LaFerrari.

DETROIT -- Audi used its Monday news conference at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show to reveal to the world its most powerful car. And it has four doors. The company showed off the all-new RS7 four-door coupe. Based on the striking A7, this hyper-fast version grabs its 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 from the S8 sedan. Horsepower jumps to 560, torque is 516 and power flows to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. Audi says the RS7 sheds about 55 pounds versus the S7. It will do 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 190 miles per hour.

Land Rover, citing the New York area's market as its largest in the world for its Range Rover Sport SUV, brought an all-new version to the 2013 New York International Auto Show on Tuesday night. Designed as an amalgamation of the compact Evoque crossover and the full-size Range Rover -- the unofficial minivan of Beverly Hills -- the Sport draws design cues from both. The second-generation Sport is 2.5 inches longer and rides on a wheelbase that's 7 inches longer than its five-passenger predecessor.

Amid all the hoopla surrounding the Los Angeles Auto Show's bigger events, like the world debut of Porsche's Cayman , Toyota's RAV4 or Jaguar bringing sexy (and powerful) back, Volvo would kindly like you not to forget it exists. To help you out, the company will be bringing to the L.A. show the S60 Polestar Concept. It cranks out a whopping 508 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque from a turbocharged, inline six-cylinder engine similar to the one in the all-wheel-drive production S60 we tested in 2010 (which has 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque in stock form)

Porsche gave fans of natural aspiration something to cheer about at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, by unveiling the all new 911 GT3. The GT3 is the most powerful 911 variant Porsche makes that doesn't have the benefits of turbocharging. The company announced Monday that the 2014 GT3 will wring 475 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque from a 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine. Porsche says that although the engine in this fifth-generation GT3 is based on the one in the Carrera S, the two share "only a few common parts.

When the horses break out of the gate for the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park this weekend, online wagering company Youbet.com Inc. will have a big bet of its own riding on the races today and Saturday. Youbet, the only publicly traded horse-betting outfit in the U.S., is counting on the event to be its biggest revenue generator of the year, topping the $7 million wagered for the cup last year. That would help the company continue to emerge from a losing streak that included annual losses for three of the last four years, the costly acquisition of two gaming-related companies, a federal investigation and nearly getting delisted by the Nasdaq stock market.

Don't say Ralph Gilles isn't competitive. Gilles is the head of Chrysler's SRT division -- the brand that recently introduced the all-new 640-horsepower Viper sports car. Shortly after the Viper was introduced, Motor Trend took it to Laguna Seca racetrack in Monterey for a head-to-head comparison with a rival 2013 Chevy Corvette ZR1. The Corvette beat the Viper and set a course record -- one previously held by an older Viper. Gilles was not pleased. After all, the Viper just got redesigned.

Though we don't yet have an official look at the all-new Cadillac CTS that will make its world premiere at the New York Auto Show, we do know what will move it. The company announced Monday that a trio of engines will be available on the 2014 CTS -- none of which are V-8s. The big daddy of the lineup (at least until the high-performance CTS-V comes out) will be a 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V-6. GM says it will make 420 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, and will go from zero to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

While Chevrolet made a trip across the pond to unveil its Corvette Stingray Convertible at this week's Geneva Motor Show, the automaker is bringing much more than that to the New York Auto Show at the end of March. The company announced that, in addition to the Stingray Convertible making its North American debut in New York, Chevy would also bring the Corvette Stingray coupe, the recently announced SS performance sedan, and a refreshed Camaro. The lineup showcases Chevy's performance vehicles, which the company says accounted for one out of three such vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2012.

Porsche gave fans of natural aspiration something to cheer about at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, by unveiling the all new 911 GT3. The GT3 is the most powerful 911 variant Porsche makes that doesn't have the benefits of turbocharging. The company announced Monday that the 2014 GT3 will wring 475 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque from a 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine. Porsche says that although the engine in this fifth-generation GT3 is based on the one in the Carrera S, the two share "only a few common parts.

After months of speculation, teaser photos and heavily camouflaged prototypes caught testing on the roads of Italy and the famed circuits of Europe, Ferrari's next-generation supercar was revealed Tuesday morning at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. All this for a car called LaFerrari. And it's a hybrid. That's right; the highlight of the Geneva show and one of the most widely anticipated debuts of all of 2013 is a car whose name translates to TheFerrari. And it's not a Ferrari LaFerrari.

The 2013 Geneva Motor Show is set to start Tuesday, but Volkswagen is already having a good week. The VW Golf was named European Car of the Year on Monday, gathering more than twice the votes than the second-place Subaru BRZ. Volvo's V40 was third. The prestigious award is chosen by automotive journalists in more than 20 countries. The Golf also won the award in 1992 and has finished on the podium five times since it was introduced in 1974. The seventh generation of the car recently went on sale in Europe and will land in U.S. dealerships in spring 2014.

Texas auto tuner Hennessey Performance Engineering has lifted the veil on its latest turbocharged road demon: the Venom GT2. According to Hennessey, the $1.25-million hypercar, which will debut in late 2013, packs a 7.0-liter twin turbo V8 engine producing up to 1500 horsepower. Check this out: The new Venom is expected to zip from zero to 60 mph in just 2 seconds, finish a quarter-mile drag race in 8.8 seconds and have a top speed of 287 mph. PHOTOS: Hennessey Performance Engineering's Venom GT2 hypercar Company founder John Hennessey said there have been aerodynamic improvements to the modified Lotus Elise body, specifically changes to the side mirrors, roof and front air dam. There is a seven-speed paddle shift transmission option available.

We know the horsepower, we know the design, now we know the speed and price of McLaren's forthcoming P1 supercar. Not surprisingly, both numbers are high. McLaren announced Tuesday that the plug-in hybrid will cost $1.15 million when it goes on sale later this year. Just 375 copies of this car will be made. Those 375 buyers will have at their disposal a very fast machine. McLaren says the 903-horsepower P1 will do zero to 62 mph in less than three seconds, zero to 124 mph in less than seven seconds, and zero to 186 mph in less than 17 seconds.

The Pontiac G8 is dead. Long live the Chevrolet SS. Chevrolet is set to reveal the 415-horsepower V-8 sedan at the Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, one day before the NASCAR version of the car is scheduled to begin qualifying for the Daytona 500. With the Pontiac brand having gone the way of the Walkman, it was Chevy's turn to rebadge the Holden Commodore that GM sells in Australia. GM previously brought this car to the U.S. badged as a Pontiac G8. With the car now landing in Chevy's hands, it marks the first V-8, rear-wheel-drive car the company has sold in almost two decades.