on the sidewalls

HIT – Lamborghini Aventador

A V12, 700hp supercar with a shape and details that can only have come from the mind of a hyperactive child on an Ribena drip. 0-62 in 2.9 seconds. A fantastic lunatic.

MISS – Skoda Vision D

Hmmm. Don’t get cocky, Skoda. Don’t blow your chance to run with your ‘People’s Champion’ baton. As well as revealing their new rather stern looking logo, Skoda showed off this equally stern, cold and featureless Octavia sized thing. Doesn’t look like as friendly or happy as the Skodas we’ve grown to love.

HIT – Alfa Romeo 4c

A horny looking coupe, which seemed to be painted in crushed red velvet. Likely to cost £40k and do a sub-5 second 0-62 bolt, it sounds like a TT and Cayman rival – but can Alfa really put together a tight enough drivetrain and chassis to even get near to the mark? Nah. Looks nice though.

MISS – Jaguar XKR-S

Yes, with 542bhp it does have more power than an Aston Martin V12 Vantage… but there’s no disguising the fact that the XK is ancient. A186mph top speed is enormously fast, but give the old girl some dignity. And by dignity we don’t mean a stupid paint job and fussy splitters.

HIT – Ford B-Max

A Fiesta sized mini-MPV with sliding doors and a range of turbocharged tiny engines? Without the overly fussy face of the Focus and the still slightly too Nursing Home friendly vibe of the C-Max? Yes please and thank you. On sale from next year… just don’t mention the word ‘Fusion’

MISS – Subaru Impreza Concept

Oh. Most people didn’t notice this appear at the LA show in November last year. Even less people will have noticed it at Geneva. How long can Subaru keep going?

HIT – Renault Captur

You’d never guess that Nissan and Renault are the best of friends. One has the Juke and the Qashqai, and the other has a Koleos. This ballsy, Juke sized Captur shows that Renault at least have ambitions of closing the style/desirability gap to their Nissan chums.

MISS – Aston Martin Virage

Evolution is a good thing. Part-sharing also fine. But Aston’s ‘new’ Virage, which features the same V12 and same chassis as the rest of their cars is a step too far. As a facelifted DB9, the Virage would be awesome – as a brand new car, it’s a disappointment.

HIT – Ferrari FF

Yes, we’ve seen the pictures already… but look how big the boot is! And it’s not some achingly clever hybrid, it’s just a hulking great 4WD chest wig with a V12 up front. Just so Ferrari’s customers can go skiing. Awesome.

MISS – Toyota FT-86 II

The thought of a rear wheel drive Scirocco rival is exciting. But Toyota have teased us with that thought for so long now that it’s now become boring. And it looks messier than a branch of WHSmith. After a robbery.

STILL NOT SURE – Pagani Huayra

The Huayra should leave us in awe. Reeling at its other-worldly face. But it still hasn’t… does that make it underwhelming? Does that suggest it’s going to be timeless? Nobody knows. But next to an Aventador, it looks like a miserable fish. Judgement is being reserved until we see it for real.

Trampled under the news hungry feet of various gobby supercars, we’re not sure the Volkswagen XL1 concept is getting the coverage it deserves. A black Porsche 911, a stroked Vantage V8, a 4WD Ferrari, a funny coloured Gallardo, a new Lambo V12 and a bombastic Pagani hypercar? Yes of course. But VW have made a 313mpg plug-in hybrid diesel torpedo – and that’s our type of news.

Of course, manufacturers bandy around concepts with optimistic stats all the time, but we reckon this one is different. It’s got wipers. And what do wipers mean? That’s right, let’s all say it together… WIPERS MEAN REALITY.

The interior looks just an LCD wing mirror away from rolling off a production line. Its shapes, textures and even buttons are a temptingly plausible mix of present day VW bits and near-future design – certainly not a work of fiction.

The XL1’s powetrain is similarly realistic; no jet turbines or sci-fi frippery here thankyou-please. It’s powered by a two-cylinder 800cc turbodiesel, which VW claim chuffs out an entirely believable 47bhp. Electricity comes from a lithium-ion battery powering a 20kW motor, which can propel the car without the help of combustion for up to 22 miles.

0-62mph happens in 11.9 seconds and CO2 emissions are quoted as being just 24g/km – although the temptation to guild the lily there may have been too much to resist… we’ll wait and see.

But its the XL1′s materials and manufacturing processes that create the most compelling evidence of its production viability. To keep its weight down to a light-but-believable 795kg, the XL1 is based around a Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer monocoque, the build process of which VW have just developed and recently patented. You don’t file a patent cheaply, easily or for no good reason. They mean business.

So while the hypercars bask in their column inches, here’s a nod to a funny little diesel hybrid. Instead of gluing a laptop battery into the boot of a two tonne SUV, here’s hoping that VW will grasp the nettle, build the thing and push the hybrid market on. Perhaps the XL1 will evolve to become a genuine successor to the revolutionary mk1 Honda Insight. Fingers crossed.

The 30th September 2010 will forever be known as the day Lotus went mental. At the Paris motorshow, they released FIVE brand new cars that will all be on sale within the next five years. Here are the bare essentials on all of them.

Elite

Body: 2+2 seat, folding hard top, front engined

Price: £115,000

Drivetrain: 5.o V8, electric motors and KERS

Power: 620hp

0-62 mph: 3.7 secs

Weight: 1650kg

On sale: Spring 2014

Esprit

Body: 2 seat, mid engine

Price: £110,000

Drivetrain: 5.0 V8, optional KERS

Power: 620hp

0-62 mph: 3.4 secs

Weight: 1450kg

On sale: Spring 2013

Elan

Body: 2 seat, optional +2, mid engine

Price: £75,000

Drivetrain: 4.0 V6, optional KERS

Power: 450hp

0-62 mph: 3.5 secs

Weight: 1295kg

On sale: Autumn 2013

Elise

Body: 2 seat, mid engine

Price: £35,000

Drivetrain: 2.0 4-cyl, optional start/stop

Power: 320hp

0-62 mph: 4.3 secs

Weight: 1095kg

On sale: Spring 2015

Eterne

Body: 4 seat, front engine

Price: £120,000

Drivetrain: 5.0 V8, electric motors, KERS, optional four wheel drive

Power: 620hp

0-62 mph: 4.0 secs

Weight: 1,800kg

On sale: Spring 2015

While it’s easy to say that the selection of 1-tonne plus cars above would make ‘Chapman turn in his grave’, we won’t. Because they might all be bloody amazing to drive… which is all that really matters. Absolutely can’t wait for the first new-era Lotus cars to hit the road. Things is gonna get interesting. Even if they do all look the same.

Ever wondered what the exact opposite of a Lotus looks like? Well, meet the new Elite…

For a starter, it’s heavy. 1680kg.  And also massively complicated thanks to a hybrid powertrain. The piston beating part is a front mounted, tuned version of the Lexus ISF’s V8… and we’re not really sure what the hybrid part is yet. Nobody is. But Lotus mention KERS so expect it to be ‘F1 inspired’ and put a a focus on brake energy regeneration.

It’s also expensive. The price is likely to be a smidge over £100k – hurling the Elite straight at the Porsche 911 Turbo and Aston Martin DB9. With a 2+2 seating layout, 0-62mph time of three and a half seconds plus a sub 215g/km CO2 figure, it seems to have the space and pace of the Aston and Porsche, but with less emissions.

So while the concept of a 1.7 tonne hybrid Lotus is a tricky one to get your head around, it at least sounds relevant, fast and competitive. It’s due for release in 2014, and will hopefully provide loads of profit that Lotus can plough back into pure, simple, lightweight sports cars like the new Seven…

Their first Paris Motorshow teaser pic was a pretty obscure looking thing that seemed to be bonnet with a brake light on it… but the two latest images of the Jota are less obtuse.

Teaser number two looks like an engine cover. Do the ten holes hint that the Murcielago’s replacement will be a V10?

Teaser number three is clearly a dashboard… made of carbon fibre. With some extreme air vents.

Ever wondered what an X5 would look like after it slept badly on a creased pillow? No, us either. But BMW have answered the question anyway – let’s give a warm welcome to the brand new BMW X3.

On sale in the UK from January, BMW’s new midi-crossover will be launched with two engines at first – a 2.0l four cylinder diesel with 181bhp and CO2 emissions of 149g/km, as well as a 3.0l turbcharged petrol with 302bhp and emissions of 204 g/km. Both will be fitted with start/stop while the petrol will come with BMW’s new 8 speed auto as standard (optional on the diseasle), as well as a Boxster beating 0-62mph time of 5.7 secs.

Unlike their smaller but still pigeon-faced and self-consciously surfaced X1, BMW will only offer the X3 with four wheel drive powetrains. In other news, electric variable speed power steering is fitted for the first time in a BMW crossover, while Damper Control and Dynamic Drive Control are both optional – again for the first time in a BMW ‘X’ model. So perhaps (and again unlike the X1), the dubious creases can be offset by a reasonable mix of dynamics and comfort. Fingers, and swage lines, crossed.

This evening, at a slinky party in the grounds of Kensington Palace, Land Rover revealed a brand new ‘compact’ car for 2011, the Range Rover Evoque. And crikey, the purists are gonna be mad. Not only was Victoria Beckham the star of the party, it was also revealed that the Evoque will be available as 2WD. A Range Rover that doesn’t go off-road, with celebrity gloss put above muddy tech? Jeepers.

But don’t let Posh Spice give you a bad first impression – there’s sense behind the style…

The lightweight 2WD transmission helps make the Evoque the smallest, lightest, most fuel efficient Range Rover ever with CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km. And with styling that’s almost identical to the awesome LRX concept, it manages to look both sparklingly new and totally Range Rover.

Clean, lean, stylish and very useful in bringing the company’s average CO2 emissions down – it’s an addition to the RR 4×4 core, not a replacement… so don’t panic. Pricing and further technical details are TBA – but we’ll guess at a £30k start price when it goes on sale in Summer 2011.

As I’m sure Michael Douglas will agree, Catherine Zeta-Jones is a funny bugger. Slinky, toned and reasonably proportioned yes, but also prone to the odd mood swing. Pretty, but clearly high maintenance. So it’s fitting that Alfa chose her to play the lead role in one of their most famous commercials.

To celebrate the firm’s 100th birthday, which is today, here’s a little Alfa nostalgia featuring Mrs Douglas herself. The reason for her pouty display actually has nothing to do with there not being enough room for her to get in – it’s just that the central locking had packed in. And she forgot to recite some typically Alfa-esque trivia as she climbed through the car – the boot of her 156 ‘Sportwagon’ estate is smaller than the 156 saloon’s.

So Happy Birthday Alfa. This ad sums you up perfectly – beautiful, moody, not that practical… and occasionally broken.

Nissan have announced prices for their brilliantly gawky Sonia Jackson look-a-like, the Juke. And while the looks split opinion like Cassidy splits mirrors, we want one even more than we did before. The range starts at a Fiesta scaring £12,795, which gets you a 1.6 petrol engine, 16″ alloys and air con alongside the bag-of-smashed-crabs face.

The model your brain will tell you to want is the middling £15,145 1.5 dCi Acenta, where you get climate control, Bluetooth, a USB hole and 17″ rims. The model your heart will want is the top of the range, £19,995 190hp turbocharged 1.6 with four wheel drive. Best compromise is probably the turbo charged engine in 2WD form, which costs from £15,595. Less than £16k for a mad looking, British built odd-box with 190hp? Yes please.

Reasons for not buying a Juke are the excellent Skoda Yeti – a touch pricey and bland by comparison, and the agile Fiesta – on the nose for price, but smaller. So, while the face may have a whiff of sausagemeat Cassidy to it, we reckon it’s an interesting, good value, decently equipped wedge of geometric spunkiness. Nissan will take deposits from June, with deliveries starting in September. Like.

Behind the impeccably clean glass of the McLaren Technology Centre, Ron Dennis and his band of obsessive men today unveiled a new supercar, a whole new supercar company and a very compelling reason not to buy a Ferrari 458 Italia or Mercedes SLS AMG. Not bad for a day’s work. The first of three models they will eventually put into production, the sparklingly orange MP4-12C was the centre of attention, being shown off in the flesh for the first time. The stats are stunning.

Geek Table:

Price – £175k target
Power – 592bhp @ 7,000rpm
Maximum Engine Speed – 8,500rpm
Torque – 443lb ft @ 3,000rpm. 80% peak from 2,000rpm to 6,500rpm
Weight – 1300kg dry. Estimate less than 1400kg kerb
CO2 – less than 300g/km
Top Speed – more than 200mph
0-62mph – around 3.4 secs
0-124mph – less than 10 secs
1/4 mile – around 11 secs
100mph – 0mph – 30 metres. Honestly. You’ll be sick out your eye holes.

Other highlights are the 7 speed ‘Seamless Shift’ double clutch transmission, one-piece carbon fibre ‘Monocell’ chassis, a 7” portrait touch screen that controls the 1.6Ghz on board computer with sat nav, wi-fi, Bluetooth and Meridien stereo, and a beautifully ergonomic interior.

As amazing as all the headline facts are, the really impressive nuggets of information on the MP4-12C come from deeper beneath the surface. The little insights that demonstrate how and why the McLaren really is lighter, faster, greener and more powerful than normal humans would think possible to achieve.

Lightweight Wiring and Lithium-ion Battery

Instead of using plain old round copper, the McLaren uses hexagonal shaped wiring that’s part aluminium, saving almost 4kg. Being hexagonal, the wires can also nestle more closely together, saving space in the interior. The battery’s no standard lead-acid brick either – it’s a lithium-ion unit, saving another 10kg.

Crash Test Repetition

Usually, manufacturers build prototypes for the sole purpose of being crashed. Once the smash has taken place, telemetry been read and results recorded the prototype is done with. But the McLaren MP4-12C has proved to be a bit different. A prototype was subjected to a standard 56kph smash, but no damage was inflicted on the carbon fibre chassis – just the deformable aluminium structure at the front. So they put it into another test. Still no damage to the chassis; not even a cracked windscreen. The same chassis was eventually subjected to three identical crash tests… it’s clearly pretty strong.

Four Hour Chassis Build

The chassis isn’t just rigid and light – it’s also incredibly quick to put together, taking just four hours. For comparison, the McLaren F1’s carbon tub took 3,000 hours. The one-piece, 80kg mould is also 25% stronger and 25% lighter than an equivalent aluminium chassis. Cripes.

Embossed Magnesium Dashboard Badge

While it’s clearly a very nice tale to brag about at a press conference, the dashboard badge story is a good one. Obviously, McLaren wanted their logo on the dashboard – but didn’t want to go to the effort and weight of putting on a badge. So instead of sticking on a little McLaren decal, they decided to emboss their emblem into the one-piece magnesium structure that makes up the dash. Which saved them a handy 2.4g… and you can’t even see it.

Perfect Driving Position & Skinny Steering Wheel

From the offset, the car has been built around the driver. It might not have an F1-style centre seat, but the pedals, steering wheel and driving chair have all been plumbed in to be perfectly aligned. Even sitting in a prototype that can’t move feels spot on – right down to the thin rimmed, perfectly sized steering wheel that tingles your hands without even a wheel being turned.

Two Handy Test Drivers

Both Lewis and Jenson have driven the car around Goodwood, and while you wouldn’t expect them to say it felt like a bag of bolts, both of them sounded genuinely enthusiastic. Lewis was very pleased, for example, that the gearchange paddles were very similar to his F1 car – they pivot at the wheel, so you can change by either pulling left and right to change down or up, or by pushing or pulling either to do the same thing.

Yeah yeah, so all this sounds a bit sycophantic – but the glee comes from facts. Hearing Chairman Ron Dennis and MD Anthony Sheriff explain the details, talk about the ruthless perfectionism, bespoke design of absolutely everything and the plain and simple statistics, it’s hard not to get carried away. And having sat in it, looked at it, seen it being made and spoken to some of the people that craft it, the MP4-12C is much more than just statistical boasting. It’s a car in which you can feel passion and perfection running through the core. A machine to respect and get all sweatily lusty for. Haven’t wanted a car this badly since turning 17.

So, you’re minted. More money than Monaco minted. More oil than BP. More gold than… Elizabeth Duke. But you’ve sprouted some kids and need a car to get them to boarding school. They won’t fit in the Veyron, so what do you get? Porsche Panamera? Too ugly. Aston Martin Rapide? Too slow. Maserati Quattroporte? Too old. Bentley Flying Spur? Too common. All four? Too cheap.

If those are your answers, meet your new favourite car – the £900,000 Bugatti Galibier. Eight exhausts indeed.

It was actually at Geneva a few weeks ago, but the world’s press (and us) were too busy talking about hybrid supercars and Aston Martin iQs to pay much attention. So Bugatti have released some more pictures… just to ram home quite how ostentatious their new four-door car is.

While production isn’t confirmed, the Galibier has appeared too often and looks too finished to be a pointless show car, so expect it to go on sale in a couple of years. Up front is a twin-supercharged, 800bhp version of the Veyron’s W16 engine that they claim will shove the Galibier to 217mph.

The Veyron’s 7 speed DSG gearbox is thought to have been swapped with an 8 speed standard auto, while four wheel drive will do its best to put the power down and ceramic brakes will be tasked with shedding speed in the event of stray camels. 16 cylinders draped over the front wheels? The Galibier has the potential to completely redefine understeer.

But understeer or not, you’re now convinced. Kids in the back of a Veyron. Done. In fact, there’s only one question… does it come in white with bullet proof glass and a humidor?

MISS – Nissan Micra

As frog faced and squidgy looking as the current Micra is, and as much as that might have scared away some core grannies, surely the Nissan Micra should look more interesting than this?

HIT – Skoda Fabia vRS

There’s something unpretentiously desirable about a quick Skoda – especially when it’s running the same 177bhp twincharger engine as the excellent Ibiza Cupra. There’s even going to be an estate version of this £16k hot hatch.

MISS – Alfa Romeo Giulietta

A lot of people were making inappropriate sexual noises as they walked passed Alfa’s new Focus rival – we can only assume it was because of the models. Promises of Golf rivalling quality aside, we think the Giulietta looks a bit awkard. Like a pigeon with piles.

HIT – Vauxhall Meriva

Now based on the Zafira, the Meriva has gone posh with a smart interior and trick suicide doors. Gimmick or not, Rolls Royce style entry apertures are what car buying humans like to show off to their mates – it’s a smart move.

MISS – Every Porsche Panamera There

So many naff tuning firms decided to further butcher the Porsche Pigs Ear it actually got a bit funny. A personal favourite was the hilariously named ‘Fab Design’ who accidentally shat all sorts of glass fibre pebble dashed mess all over the place.

HIT – Mini Countryman

There. We’ve said it. The Mini Countryman wasn’t that bad in the flesh – not perfect, but not an complete face disgrace. In real life it looked quite muscular and chunky, and, as you’ll note by the amazing photo below – there’s room for a human with knees in the back.

Knees, fitting in behind our own 6ft driving position. Never seen before in a Mini.

Just like kids always tell outlandish lies to their mates, motorshows always feature ridiculous concept cars. As fictional as the powertrains and styling may be, they at least serve as a statement of intent, showing what technology the R&D department is spending its money on, and what direction a manufacturer’s style house is heading. Here are the best concepts of Geneva 2010.

Citroen Survolt

At Frankfurt, Citroen had the unfortunately named Revolte – a fictional car apparently designed for Penelope Pit Stop. At Geneva, they ran with the ‘girl racer’ theme and showed off the Survolt – an electric, two-door sports car which had lots of pink on it.

We asked Citroen man whether the little eye lashes were hinting at the shape of future Citroen daytime running lights, and whether the size and shape of the car (a Megane sized, Scirocco bating coupe) hinted at a future model, but he didn’t confirm or deny. Which means ‘well, yes… probably. But the boss in France has told me to keep schtum.’ Nice looking car, with a hint of Veyron on the shoulders. Because you’re worth it.

Ferrari 599 HY-KERS

Not a Ferrari designed for the strong-legged hiking community, but one built with a Formula One style KERS hybrid system. It’s just a concept at the moment, but Ferrari have been running a car with a similar system for nearly a year, so similar technology is likely to trickle down – the California will come with a stop/start system soon, for a start.

SEAT IBE

A quiet surprise from SEAT was their little electric shooting break/hatch, which is apparently running on similar gubbins to VW’s UP city car. It’s got a 75kW electric motor which can whiz it to 62mph in less than 10 seconds, because it only weighs around a tonne.

It might turn out to just be pure fiction, but with the VW Group having the UP and Bluesport electric cars, it’s not hard to imagine the next Leon, Ibiza or new SEAT coming with an electric powertrain.

Porsche 918 Spyder Plug-In Hybrid

This was the shock of the show, catching everyone by surprise when it was unveiled on Monday night. It looked stunning, with wheels, lines and vents that begged to be put into production… which might not be as far away as first appears – rumours have it that this will be the Carrera GT’s replacement.

It’s easy to sneer at the stats for being works of pure fiction, but Porsche aren’t usually ones to invent figures without serious groundwork behind them, so here’s hoping all this can be real: 500bhp V8, 218bhp electric motor, 70g.km of CO2, 94mpg and 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds. Porsche also claim it laps the Nurburgring quicker than the Carrera GT. Keep an eye out for it – they’ve kept it secret for this long after all.

Geneva 2010 was a cracking show for actual cars that human people will soon be driving in the real world. So good in fact, that we’ve had to make a list just so you can take it all in. We’ve supplemented our shitty iPhone snaps with press pics to help you see too.

Nissan Juke

Yeah yeah, it’s just a small crossover… but look at it. The Juke is proper mental. Nissan have already proved their ability to judge what people want to buy when they released the Qashqai – it appealed to everyone from Focus to 4×4 to Mondeo buyers.

The Juke is going to slot under the Qashqai when it goes on sale in October at around £13k. And don’t forget that these days, that’s the price of a mid-spec Fiesta or Polo, so there’s every chance that the Juke could ‘do a Qashqai’ to the supermini market. Seeing as it’s being built in Sunderland by the good men of the North, hopefully it’ll do well.

Citroen DS3 Racing

All of Citroen’s new cars were actually bloody interesting – but amongst the fictional concepts, the DS3 Racing was the quiet star. When was the last time Citroen made a car that made you want to drive it? We can’t remember either.

Despite the fact they’ve been building up a cracking rally reputation for a good few years, Citroen have taken a while to cash in on it – which is what the DS3 Racing comes in, being tweaked by the same chaps that build Loeb’s company car. It’s got a 200bhp 1.6 Turbo, wider track, stiffened and lowered suspension and twiddled ECU to make it quick… probably quick enough to hit 60mph in less than 7 seconds.

It’ll go on sale in the summer, and Citroen man didn’t disagree when we suggested it would cost just shy of £20k. Citroen man also told us that because only 1,000 will be made, the DS3R might not be available with the level of customisation found on the standard car – if they’re all grey and orange with the wheels of the show car, that won’t be a bad thing. It’s not just the Audi A1 that’s going to bother the Mini Cooper S.

Aston Martin Cygnet

In a radical move of assertion, we asked a man at Aston Martin if they were actually going to build the Toyota iQ based luxury city car – the man said ‘we are intending to produce the Cygnet before the end of the year’. He also commented how the chassis of the iQ will remain 100% intact as the Toyota becomes an Aston, without even changes to bushes, dampers or spring rates. The Aston Martin Cygnet will drive exactly like a Toyota iQ. Gosh

Prices are speculative at the moment, but Aston Martin didn’t dismiss us when we said we’d heard they’d start at £30k – Aston man also said it was more than likely that the car would initially be sold to current customers, with the aim to put it on general sale.

The interior of the show car wasn’t anywhere near to production finish, but the architecture and style reflected how the final car will look – and, to be honest, wasn’t impressive. While the outside of the car at least has a nod towards an Aston face with token styling cues, the architecture of the iQ interior remains – which simply doesn’t feel like enough effort to justify the extra cost over the Toyota. Final judgement has to wait until we’ve all seen a final car, but we’re more worried than ever that the Cygnet could really tarnish Aston’s good name.

Audi A1

Swiss motoring journalists couldn’t get enough of the little Audi, which shows just how subtly mature the well resolved styling is. It looks even smarter and well proportioned in the flesh with a stocky stance and beautiful headlight jewellery. Bizarrely, we stood staring at the A1 for longer than we did the Pagani Cinque Roadster.

We’ve always had a worry that the A1’s smart exterior could be let down by a less impressive, built to a price interior – but if the show car’s anything to go by, that won’t be a problem. While some of the materials and buttons weren’t quite as intricately damped as those in a bigger, pricier Audi it still had more than enough quality and tactility to make the starting price of £13k seem like ruddy good value.

Options will be key though – the daytime running lights, swooping roof line and smart wheels all need paying extra for, or the A1 will look drab and be worth nothing come resale. Bloody hell, what sensible advice. Goes on sale this Autumn.

Ford Focus

This could be the world’s biggest selling car when it goes on sale in the US, China and Europe next year. It’s fairly important. The styling of the outside was still raising eyebrows, with smart details like the triangular front grilles and funky fuel filler flap looking good, but perhaps one too many creases down the side and awkward rear lights. Shouldn’t every Focus ever have upright rear lights?

The interior is a much happier place – smart and premium looking, as well as being a lot more interesting than the current car. There were some rough edges on the pre-production show car, but the smart centre joystick and climate/radio layout already felt familiar and ergonomically sound. Nice leather dash top with bright yellow stitching all over too.

Perhaps more interestingly than the interior is the fact that Ford man told us that the next hot Focus, which won’t necessarily be called the RS, won’t come with a 5 cylinder engine as the current RS engine isn’t Euro V compliant so will be dropped. It was more than hinted that the top hot 2011 Focus would be running a 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine – perhaps a tuned version of the new car’s new Ecoboost motor. They’re already claiming that the new Focus is a sportier drive than any previous model, and that it’ll be even more of a revelation than the current Fiesta is. Which is good.

After yesterday’s jubilation of GM securing the future of Saab by selling it to Spyker, the American giant announced they are going to close Hummer leading to the loss of over 3,000 jobs. GM have been trying to shift the SUV brand to Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, who’s name is as economical with words as Hummers are with fuel, but the sale has fallen through. GM will honour warranties and continue to provide spare parts for current cars.

The failure of the $150m deal is due the Chinese Government’s reluctance to approve the sale, probably due to the fact that they didn’t really fancy idea of appearing to condone cars that can’t crack 15mpg. Not good for the international street cred you see… there’s an irony there somewhere.

Look on the bright side though – in a world of averages, Hummer’s death means we can all drive a faster, more polluting car without any ill effect. If anyone ever accuses you of being blase towards the environment as you rag your V12 Vantage, just say you’re restoring the Hummer equilibrium. Call it a kind of automotive altruistic utilitarianism. You’ll be gone before they realise what the hell you’re on about.

At 17:30 GMT today, one of the longest running plot lines in automotive soap opera history reached a conclusion – Spyker have officially finalised the deal to buy Saab from General Motors. Both Spyker and Saab will now co-exist as independent sister companies under the new umbrella group Spyker Cars N.V.

Victor Muller (looking pleased above), boss of Spyker Cars NV and the main protagonist in the plotline said:  “We are delighted – Saab’s future is now secure… From today we will be concentrating all of our efforts into reviving Saab and transforming it into a sustainable and profitable company with the confidence to be bold.”

The first job is to kick start production of the new 9-5 which is planned for a release later this year, although there’s already a lot of chatter about the possibility of an Audi A1 rivalling supermini. With BMW having the Mini, Merc the A-Class and Audi the A1, Saab could do with a tidy premium little car for the all the terribly polite people who are thinking of downsizing. The 9-3 and 9-5 saloons and 9-4X SUV could struggle to sell in shrinking markets, which wouldn’t be a nice start for the revived company. Pehaps they’ll take inspiration from their very first car, the little 92…

For now though, lets just be pleased that Saab have survived, hope the new 9-5 can cut it and wish for a cool Saab supermini to keep them relevant.

Jaguar have been busy massaging the silicon goolies of their 510bhp XKR, making it go faster than ever before. At Geneva, they’ll officially release two new performance and styling packs, called Speed Pack and Black Pack which make it quicker and prettier.

The £3,500 Speed Pack is the most newsworthy – it raises the electronic speed limiter from 155mph to 174mph, as well as including a revised front splitter, larger rear spoiler and tweaked Active Differential Control to make it more stable at the higher speeds. You’ll also be treated to various cosmetic pleasantries such as body-coloured side sills and rear diffuser, as well as chrome window surrounds, grilles, side vents and boot spoiler.

For £500 extra you can add the Black Pack too, which concentrates on the styling and is only available if you’ve already got a Speed Pack. You get black gloss wheels, a choice of special Ultimate Black, Polaris White or Salsa Red paint, some nicer Charcoal leather and an optional XKR decal to make you look wickedcool. And all the bits that are chrome in the Speed Pack get turned gloss black too.

Other changes for the 2011 model year, regardless of optional packs, include new red brake calipers and a standard tyre repair system instead of a spare. The XKR Coupe costs £74,955, with the Convertible costing £6k more – before any packs have been tacked on.

Here’s a video of a car with a Black Pack, and therefore Speed Pack too. Yes please.

Everyone’s favourite aspirational-but-hopefully-one-day-affordable minimalist sports car from Norfolk, the Lotus Elise, has been given a face job and new engine. We’ll start with the face. It’s a sleeker, more mature boat-race that brings some stylistic continuity between Elise and Evora, as well as improving drag coefficient by 4%. Can’t help but gently pine for the glass fibre google eyes of the mk1 though…

Beneath the newly sensible face, is a newly sensible engine – the base ‘S’ model’s 1.8 will be replaced with a 1.6, still from Toyota. Happily, the power output of 134bhp is identical, but a small cluster of torques has been sacrificed, with 127lb ft dropping to 118lb ft. The 0-62mph time has dropped a tenth to 6.0secs, although the top speed is also lower – down 3 to 124mph.

The main impression of the new, smaller engine is how enviro-tolerable it is. The combined mpg is up 9mpg over the old 1.8 to an impressive 46mpg, while the CO2 has dropped from 179g/km to 155. Very clean. The remaining 1.8 engine, in both naturally aspirated and Supercharged models, also gets a tweak to bring CO2 levels down below 200g/km in both models. Gosh. Now promise never to mention the enviro-stats of a Lotus Elise again. It’s like mentioning that Scarlett Johansson is really good at knitting – it’s missing the point.

Also added are some new wheels and a 6 speed gearbox across the range. Prices are likely to change a little bit over the current car, but it’s unlikely they’ll stray too far from the current car  - so expect around £27k for the base model and £33k for the Supercharged SC. Less polluting and just as fast – it’s tricky to complain.

It’s definitely not a practical joke any more. Mini have announced prices and other details for their Countryman crossover, which will go on sale in the UK in September. Cheapest is the 98hp One at exactly £16,000, rising up to £20,810 for the 184hp Cooper S.

The Cooper D looks like the most sensible buy at £18,810 – it’s got 112hp, 199lb ft and will get to 62mph in 10.9 secs. It also only emits 116g/km of CO2 and is quoted at 64.2 mpg combined. All those figures are for the front wheel drive models though; an  ’All4′ four wheel drive transmission will be available on the Cooper S and Cooper D, costing a smidge over a grand extra with a CO2 and mpg penalty that Mini say is ‘smaller than one might expect’. We’ll have to take their word for it, as they’ve not actually said what it is.

As far as our basic understanding of 4WD transmissions go, the Countryman All4 uses what is essentially an electro-magnetic version of a Haldex clutch – if the front wheels lose traction, the rears are engaged. A prop-shaft to the rear wheels actually runs constantly to make the transition from FWD to 4WD as smooth as possible, with the clutch engaging the rear wheels when necessary. Clever. Although the ground clearance is actually only 1cm higher than a normal Mini so the 4WD seems a bit pointless anyway.

All UK cars will come with a rear bench seat as standard, with a no-cost option of having two individual rear seats instead. Other standard kit includes parking sensors, heated mirrors and washers, roof rails, DAB radio, bluetooth and ‘preparation for a bicycle rack’.

Unavoidable cynicism for such a cynical car aside, the fact that the Cooper D Countryman can be had for less than £20k seems reasonable value next to the likes of Kugas, X1s and Tiguans which all cost a good few grand more. We’ll reserve judgement as to how practical it really is until we’re poking around it in Geneva – but if it’s got vaguely comparable space to the likes of the Kuga, you better get used to seeing its funny face about.

Following on from the teaser image they released a few months ago, Nissan have now parped out more info and pics of their new Juke crossover. And it looks completely fucking mental. Gloriously ugly; a genetically modified cross between a Skoda Yeti and a Nissan Murano that’s being viewed through a prism. It’s no beauty, but it’s got the type of brutality and individuality we reckon will work on the street, and appeal to the youthfully trendy men Nissan are aiming for. Anyway, enough subjectivity – on with the fact spew.

Sir Juke will go on sale in October, slotting in under the all-conquering Qashqai in size and cost. No prices have been announced yet, but reckon on an opening gambit of around £13k. Beneath the mental face is a widened, lengthened version of the Micra platform which is available as either a two- or, if you go for the most powerful engine, four-wheel drive.

This top motor is a new 187bhp direct injection 1.6 petrol turbo, which Nissan say offers all the grunt and response of a naturally aspirated 2.5 litre. Beneath that is a naturally aspirated, 115bhp 1.6 petrol and Nissan’s familiar 1.5dCi diesel with 108bhp and 177lb ft of torque. Performance and economy figures haven’t been announced, but expect the 1.6 turbo petrol to be fast and not very economical, with the 1.5dCi being the exact opposite.

The 4wd version is fitted with a trick torque vectoring system that, like in a BMW X6, can shift power left or right across the rear axle as well as forward and back between front and rear – Nissan claim this will reduce understeer. A multi-link rear suspension is also fitted to the 4wd models, instead of the torsion beams on the 2wd drive cars… seems a shame that only the most powerful engine is available with this chassis really.

Three spec levels will be available – the usual Nissan lines of Visia, Acenta and Tekna. Optional kit will include a reversing camera, illuminated door sills and ‘Nissan Dynamic Control System’ which lets the driver fiddle with the car’s dynamic settings as well as boring stuff like the heater and lights. Whether it’s a stunner or a munter is up to you, but if Nissan do price the Juke lower than the Qashqai or Skoda Yeti, you better get used to seeing it around. And because it’s built in Britain you can’t say anything bad about it – or Alistair Darling will kneecap you. You’ve been warned.