Volvo has released the details of the new S60 ahead of the car's official debut at the Geneva show.
The saloon will launch into one of the car industry's most competitive markets, but Volvo insists that the S60's new design and superior driving characteristics will mean it can compete with the likes of BMW and Audi.
The company is touting the S60 as a four -door coupe – hardly an original pitch – but there's no denying that the car's fastback appearance. The long C-pillar and contoured shoulders give the S60 an athletic stance, but brand recognition has not been entirely sacrificed in the pursuit of increased sportiness; the car is still unmistakably a Volvo.
Porsche doesn't do things by halves, and certainly this new Family Tree advert for the new Panamera is no low-budget operation.
The extensive shoot involved 50 different Porsche models from the car-makers past, 22 professional drivers, 160 crew members, several Cayenne camera vehicles and two helicopter pilots for those excellent overhead shots.
The result is a very fine introduction of the new Panamera to the Porsche family. Check out the 'making of' video and the finished advert below.
Strike up the band – Volvo is teasing us with yet more footage of its new S60.
This promotional video sees the S60 put through its paces in the desert by what can only be described as a 21st century version of Mad Max.
Cue lots of dust, rear-end slides and, bizarrely, wireless headset phone calls. There's also a blink-and-you-miss-it glimpse at the interior, which would appear to feature a Knightrider-style centre display.
Nevertheless, it looks good and the S60 is important as it should be the first new model of the new Geely-owned Volvo.
Any petrol head knows that the key to a great holiday or trip is to drive there. But trying to pile the kids and missus into a 911 isn't going to make for the most pleasant journey.
So we've put together a top ten of the best road trip cars that offer at least four seats, space for luggage and won't bore you on the motorway. Let us know what you think.
10. BMW 540i – Used £3,000 ('97)
We had to include a BMW here somewhere, and although more modern examples of the 5 series or even 3 series would make equally great road trip companions, the E39 540i is perhaps one of the more iconic BMW's. Powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine, performance is available in spades, while it also benefits from a well-balanced ride and excellent handling. Search for BMW 5 Series on Auto Trader
Mazda has revealed the facelifted version of the Mazda 6 prior to the car's official unveiling at this year's Geneva motor show.
Subtle changes to the hatchback's nose bring the car into line with the rest of the Mazda range, but otherwise little changes on the exterior.
Under the skin Mazda has tweaked the chassis settings and introduced several new safety features including hill-launch assist.
The facelifted 6 comes with a choice of six engines. Only one is new; the current 2.0-litre petrol engine is replaced by the DISI version, which should deliver better fuel-efficiency and lower emissions.
The remaining 1.8 and 2.5-litre petrol motors have both been updated, but all derivatives of the MRZ-CD 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine remain the same.
The new Mazda 6 will go on sale in Europe in the spring.
On a recent trip to Cairo, I could not help noticing that every second car was either a Peugeot or a Fiat. Good for them, you might say, but there was just one problem. All of the designs were over 20 years old, and many of them went back 40 years.
In a strange inversion of the normal practice, the older the model, the more of them you saw. Every third car was a Peugeot 504 (introduced 1968), with the next most popular Peugeot being the 1979 505. There were no modern Peugeots at all and it was the same with Fiat. There were thousands of 1970s-era 128s, 131s and 132s, but no Unos, let alone Puntos. Imagine if you never saw a Ford Mondeo in the UK, but thousands of Cortinas instead.
Chrysler UK is starting 2010 by revamping its 300C range. The distinctive Yank bruiser will be available at four trim levels, all intended to beat the competition on price in the ultra-competitive executive saloon market.
The base-spec SE model now costs £23,995, saving £3000 over the previous cheapest version. It gets the same 215bhp 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine as the more expensive variants, and comes with heated front seats, dual zone climate control, 18" aluminium wheels and parking sensors as standard.
The SR model adds sat-nav for £24,995, while SRT trim at £27,995 brings a mesh grill with chrome surround, body coloured door mirrors and handles plus wheel arch extensions to help incorporate 20" wheels.
As before, the top-of-the-range model comes in the imposing shape of the SRT-8, which comes with the 6.1 V8 HEMI petrol engine and a £41,795 price tag. Generating 425bhp and 420lb-ft of torque, the V8 propels the 300C's bulk to 60mph in 5secs on its way to 165mph. The SRT-8 also gets better brakes and tuned suspension to harness all that old-fashioned power.
You'd have no idea that there was a global recession on if you looked at nothing but a list of all the new cars launched during 2009. Supercars, superminis, sports cars, SUVs – they all poured out of the planet's car factories, even if many have been on short-time working or simply idle.
Why all this new product during such a savage downturn? Because cars take three to five years to develop, all these were conceived in the good times and it's generally cheaper to launch a new model than it is to kill it after the colossally expensive tooling has been paid for. That said, Honda strangled its NSX supercar at birth, figuring that such a machine sent out the wrong message in these straitened times.
That's quite a loss for car-nuts, but there were plenty of compensations, not least from Porsche, which announced the Panamera, upgraded the Boxster and Cayman and unleashed an assortment of 911 variations, including the superb GT2 and GT3, a new Turbo and the intriguing but over-priced Sport Classic. More exciting was the Boxster Spyder – and all this while it attempted to swallow VW. Instead, it has become a morsel for Wolfsburg.
Thia is the first image of the new Kia K9, a new large saloon from the Korean car-maker based on the Hyundai Genesis.
The sketch was shown for the first time in Korea last week during a presentation from Peter Schreyer; the man who designed the original Audi TT and who now heads up Kia's design department.
It is likey that Kia will unveil a concept version first before a production model is unveiled in 2011. The K9 should get a range of engines from the Genesis range, potentially including a V6 unit and the range-topping 385hp V8 engine.
Following up our recent story about Beijing saying it did not want the Saab factory, it is becoming clearer about what it does want. It is still apparently mulling over what it might buy from GM in terms of current products but, in the meantime, it has bought the production line for the old Saab 9-5.
On the plus side, that does give Beijing access to a western platform which is more advanced than anything it could come up with itself. On the negative side, it is slightly surprising that anyone would want the oldest large car platform in Europe: the 9-5 dates back to 1997 and has its origins in a stretched Vauxhall Vectra chassis.
The Chinese market is getting steadily more sophisticated and starting to demand contemporary designs. The days when VW could get rich in China by selling the early 1980s VW Santana (a Passat with a boot) have gone forever. The 9-5 is going to have to be sold very cheaply to compete even in the domestic market, and it is certainly not going to be viable in western markets at any price.
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