Plenty of horse wower in Geneva

On a supercharge ... 5-litre V8 XKR-S is capable of 186mph

It was sheer Swiss bliss for playboys, footballers and lottery winners with tons of new supercars.

The exotica firms wheeled out their beauties for those immune from biting taxes and fuel costs. No show would be complete without a new FERRARI - and Chris Evans, Simon Cowell and co would have been delighted with their latest supercar superstar.

It's the Ferrari 4x4 - their first-ever production four-wheel-drive model - called the FF.

The front-engined V12 four-seater GT replaces the 612 Scaglietti two-plus-two coupé, but also aims to attract a new kind of "all-roads, all-weathers" buyer.

It's also the Italian firm's most powerful four-seater ever. The FF will have a new 6.3litre V12 producing 651bhp which will deliver 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of 208mph. The previous 612 managed the sprint in four seconds and hit 199mph.

Despite the addition of four-wheel drive, the FF weighs 1,790kg - 50kg less than its predecessor. That also helps restrict fuel consumption, with the FF returning 18.3mpg and 360g/km when specced with the HELE stop-start system, down from 13.8mpg and 470g/km respectively. Prices will be around £220,000.

Plus fours ... Ferrari FF comes with four seats and four-wheel drive

Not far behind Ferrari for wow factor were PAGANI. The incredible HUAYRA - pronounced 'why-eera' - is the long-awaited replacement for the iconic Zonda.

It pumps out a ferocious 700bhp from the 6litre V12 Mercedes AMG engine, delivering 0-62mph in just 3.2 seconds and a Bugatti-rivalling 235mph top speed.

This all comes at the eye-watering price of £1million. And there's even a roadster and more powerful S version on the way!

But in no way were the Brits outgunned for jaw-droppers.

ASTON MARTIN have brought back the VIRAGE which was last built in 1998 - and this new model is the lovechild of the DB9 and DBS. It has a 6litre V12 engine and 490bhp delivering 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds. And, being an Aston, it will come with an exclusive £150,000 price tag.

The JAGUAR E-Type hits 50 this week in Geneva - and, to celebrate, they have launched a blistering new version of its spiritual successor, the XK Coupé. The XKR-S gets a re-tuned supercharged 5litre V8 to boost power to 542bhp. Top speed is 186mph and 0-60mph is an Aston-beating 4.2 seconds. The XKR-S will come with a price tag of just over £90,000.

The proper successor to the E-type is on its way later this year, designed by Scot Ian Callum. It'll be a stunner.

Zonda way ... Pagani's stunning new Huayra will top 235mph

RANGE ROVER had several new lean and green new models - but they also had their AUTOBIOGRAPHY Ultimate Edition - their most expensive model ever.

It costs £120,000 and is a luxurious off-road limousine with a host of extras, even iPads with access to movies, email and internet. There are also limo-like back seats, a refrigerated drinks cabinet and aluminium laptop tables. There are two V8 engines available, one petrol and one diesel, but both come mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Only 500 of the bespoke Ultimate Editions will be built.

MASERATI have a hardcore GRANCABRIO - which was already one of the best-looking cars in the world - now it's even more breathtaking.The Sport uses the 4.7litre V8 from the recently-launched MC Stradale GranTurismo coupé. This delivers 444bhp - up 11bhp on the standard GranCabrio.

Golden return ... Aston announce the first Virage since 1998

Expect prices around £110,000. On sale here in October.

But perhaps the best news was a supercar that WON'T cost a fortune to run.

The CITROEN METROPOLIS is a striking limo to take on the Jaguar XJ, Merc S-Class, BMW 7 and Audi A8. It'll replace the ageing C6 which was also a ground-breaking design. And this Metropolis would even put Nicolas Sarkozy's missus Carla Bruni in the shade for elegance and beauty.

At 17ft 5in long and 4ft 7in high, it's imposing and would make a real statement if Citroen put it into production. The French firm claims it'll use a hybrid set-up with a 2litre V6 petrol engine linked to an electric motor to deliver 460bhp, while emitting just 70g/km.

Striking ... Citroen's stunning new limo is set to take on Jag XJ and Merc S-Class

For the environmentally-friendly billionaire who has everything, ROLLS-ROYCE have the world's most luxurious electric limousine - with batteries included.

The PHANTOM offers zero-emission motoring for a frugal 2p a mile - compared with 40p a mile for the standard Phantom.

That's great economy for a Roller. Only one snag - it costs £1m to buy!

Mission iPossible drives BMW on

Mission iPossible ... BMW's stunning electric car

THIS is BMW's sensational new electric car which offers supercar performance and nearly 90mpg.

Tom Cruise will drive the electric/diesel hybrid i8 in new Mission Impossible film The Ghost Protocol.

And it will go on sale in 2013 as part of a radical brand of BMW electric/hybrid cars.

The brand, launched this week in Munich, will be called BMWi - with the first models an electric city car, the BMW i3, and the high-performance i8 coupé.

The i3 will be a zero-emission all-electric supermini with room for four and a range in excess of 100 miles. It is aimed at commuters around the world. But the car that will change the image of electric motoring will be the stunning i8, a four-seat coupé with supercar performance, but fuel economy of nearly 90mpg, a range of 435 miles and CO2 emissions of less than 100g/km - and that means no road tax.

The incredible performance comes from a relatively small 1.5-litre turbo diesel, boosted by two electric motors, that delivers 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. Expect a price around £100,000 plus.

BMW's Sales and Marketing boss Ian Robertson said the new brand and cars would "radically alter the motor industry and set a new benchmark for premium electric cars".

He added: "These cars and the i brand will shift the game and shape the future of motoring.

"It will change the way we build cars with new materials and production techniques and the way we drive."

He said it was too early to talk prices for the new cars but said that the i3 - despite being a small city car - would have a premium price and cost more than such rivals as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.

Luxury The ground-breaking brand follows a decision at the weekend by Rolls- Royce, also owned by BMW, to develop an all-electric Phantom as the first ultra-luxury electric car.

And BMW are also working on plans for an electric Mini - the German Group own Mini - to complete their electric range.

To that end BMW have been testing a fleet of 600 prototype electric Minis in the UK and around the world for the last two years.

And research from those drivers who took part in the Mini electric trials has been vital in developing the BMW i3 city car.

iBrand ... BMW hope their i cars will shape the future of motoring

2011 Geneva Motor Show: The Supercars

Geographically located in between the supercar capitals of Europe, Switzerland is where the world's automakers come to showcase the latest array of mouth-watering, bank-balance-tempting exotic sports cars. And this year's Geneva Motor Show didn't disappoint in the least.

In between all those luxury sedans, upscale sport-utes and premium hatchbacks were a blinding assortment of six-figure supercars seemingly capable of bending the very laws of physics. Standing out from the crowd were brand-new offerings from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani, new takes on old favorites from Maserati, Aston Martin and Jaguar, concept cars from Alfa Romeo, BMW and Wiesmann and more.

We went to Geneva to check them out with our own eyes (and lens) – follow the jump to see what we found, and click the images to view the full galleries from our sister-site Autoblog.

Among the most eagerly anticipated of the new debuts was the all-new Pagani Huayra. The oddly-named supercar from Modena replaces, at long last, the much-loved Zonda that stood for years as a favorite among those in the know. The new Huayra, packing a Mercedes AMG V12 engine, looks much better in red and in person than it did in the first batch of beige images released when the car was initially announced, leaving us with little doubt that the Huayra will be as sought-after as the Zonda it replaces.



Arguably even more anxiously awaited was the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4. After months of teasers and spy shots, the Raging Bull marque finally unveiled its all-new supercar under the flood lights on the Geneva show floor to rave reviews. Replacing the old steel-framed Murcielago with a completely new carbon-fiber monocoque, the Aventador drives 700 metric horsepower to all four wheels from an all-new engine through a new type of gearbox with an F1-inspired suspension that, all together, promise blinding levels of performance.



Pagani and Lamborghini weren't the only Italian automakers presenting new supercars in Geneva, as Ferrari arrived with the new FF. Succeeding the lackluster 612 Scaglietti, the Ferrari Four is an all-wheel-drive "shooting brake" (that is, somewhere in between a hatchback and a station wagon with a sleeker profile) that seats four and packs a new V12 engine. The intriguing new flagship model was proudly showcased in duplicate at Ferrari's impressive show stand as well as at designer Pininfarina's (alongside the De Tomaso Deauville).



Ferrari's sister company Maserati, meanwhile, unveiled the ultimate variant of its GranTurismo range with the new GranCabrio Sport. The four-seat convertible packs the same 450-horsepower, 4.7-liter V8 engine as the GranTurismo MC Stradale, but offers wind-in-your-hair cruising for you and three of your best friends. (If they're not your best friends now, you can bet they will be after you give 'em a ride in this beauty.)



Another storied sister company Alfa Romeo wowed with the spritely 4C concept, seen for the first time here in Geneva. Envisioned as a more accessible successor to the achingly beautiful 8C Competizione, the 4C packs a much smaller four-cylinder engine (hence the name) and was unveiled in a tempting matte red paint scheme to critical acclaim. If built for public consumption, it could provide a decidedly more latin-flavored alternative to England's Lotus.



The fun wasn't all left up to the Italians, though, as the Germans got in on the supercar action as well. BMW presented its concept for a technologically-advanced roadster in the form of the Vision ConnectedDrive which is strictly a show car, but its ingredients could find their way into future production models from Munich.



Niche automaker Wiesmann, also powered by BMW engines, presented its Spyder concept that boils the existing Wiesmann Roadster into a more stripped-down, if not necessarily attractive, package.



Meanwhile Gumpert – producers of the lightning-quick but ugly-duckling Apollo supercar – presented the new Tornante with a sleeker form designed by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera of Milan.



Heading further north, Swedish supercar-builder Koenigsegg presented the final production version of the new Agera as well as the even more extreme new Agera R. Capable of burning E85 bio-ethanol, the Agera R's twin-turbo V8 produces as much as 1,115 horsepower for a 2.9-second sprint to sixty.



The British were well represented as well by former sister companies Aston Martin and Jaguar. The former unveiled the new Virage, a luxurious V12 grand touring coupe based on (and slotting into the line-up in between) the DB9 and DBS models. Jaguar meanwhile presented the ultimate version of its XK coupe to take in the form of the XKR-S. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original XKE, the limited-edition XKR-S offers up 550 horsepower from its supercharged V8 for a 4.2-second 0-60 time.



Finally the Japanese joined in on the action with the Nurburgring package for the Lexus LFA. For an extra $70k over the $375k list price on a "regular" LFA, the Nürburgring package offers extra power, aerodynamics and other enhancements that make the V10-engined supercar even more extreme. A pretty good note on which to finish our coverage of this year's Geneva Motor Show.

Lamborghini Aventador & Ferrari Four Sold Out for 2011

Can't decide between the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 and the Ferrari Four? One's a front-engined hatchback and the other a mid-engined wedge, but form factor aside, the two have more in common than you might think. They've both got new V12 engines bigger than six liters and with over 600 horsepower. They're both all-wheel drive, each tops the range from arch-rival exotic Italian automakers and cost upwards of $300,000. So which one would you take?

Even if you have the cash on hand, you'll still have a while to think it over. Because according to reports, they're both sold out for the rest of the year. Lamborghini earmarked 700 units for 2011, Ferrari 800. But they've all reportedly been spoken for. So take your time deciding which you like better. And then buy both. Hey, if you're gonna dream, might as well dream big

Karnival Rio disertai model terkenal

SEBUAH kenderaan berhias daripada sekolah samba Vila Isabel menyertai karnival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil kelmarin.

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RIO DE JANEIRO - Perarakan yang terkenal di seluruh dunia, Karnival Rio bermula kelmarin dengan pertunjukan bunga api dan sorakan peminat-peminat yang berpesta di jalanan selama dua hari.

Perarakan itu menampilkan penari-penari yang berpakaian hampir bogel, kereta-kereta berhias yang luar biasa dan watak-watak tambahan yang berjumlah ribuan orang serta 70,000 penonton di sebuah stadium selain disiarkan menerusi saluran televisyen antarabangsa.

Hanya 12 buah sekolah samba yang berada dalam senarai tangga teratas dibenarkan menyertai Karnival Rio itu.

Setiap sekolah perlu membuat persiapan berbulan-bulan dan melibatkan kos sehingga AS$5 juta (RM15 juta).

Juara sekolah samba dipilih berdasarkan koreografi, muzik, tarian dan kreativiti persembahan.

Kemenangan dalam pesta itu umpama menjadi juara dalam pertandingan bola sepak.

Secara keseluruhan, pertandingan itu mempamerkan imej-imej yang sinonim dengan Brazil seperti seksi, masyarakat yang pelbagai budaya dan semangat berpesta yang sangat membara.

Model terkenal dari Brazil, Gisele Bundchen berusia 30 tahun turut menyertai perarakan tersebut dan dia menari di atas sebuah kenderaan berhias dengan memakai pakaian singkat.

Pelakon terkenal, Pamela Anderson turut menyaksikan perarakan karnival itu. - Agensi