New Impreza breaks cover

This is the all-new Subaru Impreza, shown for the first time in the US by Motor Trend Magazine, in what looks like a photo leaked from an advanced copy of the sales brochure.

Thankfully the three-nostril face of the current Impreza and the Tribeca SUV has been ditched, and a more conventional nose created. The sharply creased and scalloped sides pay a little homage to the BMW 1 Series, but the biggest news of all is that the core model of the new Impreza will be a five-door hatchback, not a four-door saloon (although a four-door model will be offered as well).

Expect the current 1.5, 2.0 and 2.0 turbo flat-four engines to carry-over from the current car, and it will get a version of the Legacy's all-new flat-four diesel engine at some point, although it's not yet known if it will be a 2.0-litre or a smaller unit. The range-topping WRX will get a 300bhp version of the current 2.5 turbo flat-four.

We'll get a closer look and more details at the New York Auto Show next week.

Mazda to introduce hydrogen rotary engine

Mazda is to create a hydrogen fueled version of its award-winning rotary engine, and it will have a 250-mile touring range and power and performance equivalent to that of a 3.0-litre petrol engine.

Hisakazu Imaki, president of the Mazda Motor Corporation made the announcement as part of a speech outlining Mazda's engineering plans for the next decade. The conventional rotary will continue to form part of Mazda's engine line up, and it hopes to start leasing hydrogen rotary powered Mazda 5s to corporate and government clients in Japan next year, as part of its test programme.

Mazda's more normal engine range is set for a makeover, with petrols that will be 15-15% cleaner and more efficient, and diesel engines that will meet and beat the stringent new Euro VI emissions standards.

Mazda will launch it's all-new Mazda 2 supermini later this year, and at the Tokyo motor show in October, will show a preview of the new 6 saloon, to be based on the same platform as Ford's new Mondeo.

New DIY car from Kia. Sort of...

Oh dear. Well, April Fool's Day is coming up, we suppose. Kia is out to try and snag unwary news outlets with the news that an all-new generation of Kias can be ordered in component form and built at home. Because the parts arrive as a series of flat-pack boxes, the new models will be known as i-Kia. Geddit? In a first for the Drive News Blog, we're going to reproduce the entire press release in full, because as far as motoring PR goes, this is tantamount to comic genius...

"Kia today pulled the covers off a completely new motoring solution, the Concept i.

With the Concept i, Kia will be the first manufacturer to offer a modular car to UK customers enabling them to choose almost every aspect of their car from a simple ‘menu’. The ‘i’ is part of Kia’s initiative to provide design led vehicles which target European customers. With the help of their local Kia dealer, customers can choose the engine, transmission and trim specification of their vehicle before opting for the rear module – saloon, hatch, estate or pick-up formats are all available.

Once the specification is complete, the dealer can supply the individual modules for the customer to build themselves in the comfort of their own home garage. Some parts, such as glass and body panels, will be supplied in flat pack form. The dealer can arrange for customer collection or the modules can be delivered to a UK address of the customer’s choosing, at no extra cost.

Managing Director of Kia Motors (UK) Ltd, Paul Philpott said; “Our design teams in Germany and California have been led by our satellite office in Sweden. It’s an important step which will bring positive results for the brand in the UK and Europe. And this is particularly good for the environment – any parts left over after building the Concept i can be returned to the local dealer which will make sure they are plumbed back into the supply chain. The target price is under £4,000 which we think offers excellent value.”

It was discovered in a recent survey that over 50 per cent of adults have built some sort of flat-pack furniture in the last few years. “It’s obviously a favourite pastime of people in the UK,” added Concept i Self-Build Programme Manager, Ms Janet Ester. “The hard part is getting the instruction manual right and all the right parts in the boxes and that’s where we have spent our time. We have trialled the idea with desks in the Korean design centre and we know it can be done. You don’t even need a comprehensive tool kit – there’s a simple Allen key included in the kit. Although you do need a wheel brace, which is available as an option.”

If built, the Concept i will use a selection of existing powertrains from the recently launched cee’d, including the popular 1.6-litre turbo diesel. Transmission options range from a four-speed automatic to a six-speed manual, depending on customer choice.

The ‘i’ adds extra flexibility to the car as a mode of transport and, with the benefit of being able to change the back half of the car, it means that customers don’t have to buy a new car when their lifestyle changes. They can simply ‘change’ their car by swapping the hatch back portion for the estate portion if a baby arrives. Or they could swap it for the pick-up rear end if they’re planning to go into business.

“We’re famous for our warranty,” added Paul Philpott, “and we expect the Concept i to follow suit although the length of coverage will vary according to the skill level of the customer. A simple questionnaire can reveal how adept they are at building the car. A high score will get a seven year warranty, a low score about a couple of weeks. The beauty is that it’s all in the hands of the customers – with Concept i Kia is empowering and reacting to what they can do.”

An on-sale date and pricing is yet to be announced by the Korean company, but it currently has no i Kia."

Vote for your new Chevrolet

This is the Chevrolet Trax, one of three small car concepts that Chevrolet will unveil next week at the New York Auto Show. Obviously, with its size and 1.0-litre engine, it previews the replacement for the current Matiz, but its significance runs deeper.

Behind the marketing ploy of letting potential buyers vote for which of the three body styles they'd most like to see make production (on www.vote4chevrolet.com) GM will also be using the vote to gauge North American reaction to this size of car. US customer have traditionally shunned the small cars that Europeans adore, but if the reaction is positive, and the current trend on both fuel prices and growing eco-friendliness continues, then the Trax could become a significant seller in the US. American car buyers have recently been 'down-sizing' into smaller, more Euro-sized cars, and the Opel Astra will shortly be going on sale state-side, with a Saturn badge.

Voting starts on April 4th.

Fiat worth more than GM and Ford. Combined.

You want turnaround? We got turnaround for you. Fiat, the same Fiat that was, abrely 18 months ago reckoned to be about to lose its finger-grip on the edge of the financial abyss, is now worth more than the combined worth of Ford and General Motors.

According to a report by the British government's Department of Trade and Industry, Fiat's shares are now worth €19.24 and the firm's total market capitalisation now stands at US$32.48 billion. Compare that with US$17.5 billion for GM and US$15.2 billion for Ford. That's a whole lot of Puntos...

New Cadillac STS

We just can't seem to stop the news flowing out of Cadillac lately. First there was the new CTS with its diesel engine, then the BLS estate and the rumoured V12-engined super-saloon and now this, the first pics of the new STS.

The STS is essentially a longer, more luxurious and more expensive version of the CTS and competes with (Cadillac hopes) the BMW 7 Series, Mercedes S-Class and Audi A8. Engines will range from Caddy's traditional 5.7-litre V8 down to a new direct injection version of the 3.6-litre V6 already seen in the current CTS that promises a 15% improvement on fuel consumption. Presumably, when it arrives in Europe (with right-hand-drive too) it will also get to use Caddy's new diesel engine.

Bio Fuels. A danger to mankind?

Environmental campaigner George Monbiot is calling for a freeze on the global production of bio fuels because, according to his research, they're killing the planet.

Writing in The Guardian, and on his own website, www.monbiot.com, Mr Monbiot claims that current bio fuel production is not only causing deforestation and endangering many species, inclduding the Orang Utan, but that it could cause starvation and even famine in the developing world.

"In 2004 this column warned that biofuels would set up a competition for food between cars and people. The people would necessarily lose: those who can afford to drive are, by definition, richer than those who are in danger of starvation. It would also lead to the destruction of rainforests and other important habitats

"The UN has just published a report suggesting that 98% of the natural rainforest in Indonesia will be degraded or gone by 2022(10). Just five years ago, the same agencies predicted that this wouldn’t happen until 2032. But they reckoned without the planting of palm oil to turn into biodiesel for the European market. This is now the main cause of deforestation there and it is likely soon to become responsible for the extinction of the orang utan in the wild. But it gets worse. As the forests are burnt, both the trees and the peat they sit on are turned into carbon dioxide. A report by the Dutch consultancy Delft Hydraulics shows that every tonne of palm oil results in 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, or ten times as much as petroleum produces(11). I feel I need to say that again. Biodiesel from palm oil causes TEN TIMES as much climate change as ordinary diesel."

Thankfully, Mr Monbiot's call to action is not all doom and gloom. He is suggesting a five-year freeze on the expansion of bio-fuel crop growing, to allow technology that uses waste crops (straw, wood chips etc) for bio fuels to catch up.

More Infiniti news

Officially, this is the Infiniti EX Concept, but you can expect to see this same car, badged EX3 in your nearest Infiniti (for which read Nissan) showroom some time next year.

Designed to take on the BMW X3 and Lexus RX, it's a compact, sporty SUV with four-wheel-drive, estate-car practicality and the 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine from the 350Z and Murano. Want a diesel? Ah, um, well... Infiniti dealers will probably prefer you didn't ask that. Renault-Nissan has a big V6 diesel in the works, but it probably won't be ready until 2010, so expect EX3 sales to be pretty small until then.

Nissan's luxury brand won't debut until next year, and Irish plans are still top secret, but we'd be amazed if the EX3 didn't arrive on these shores, even without the diesel option to start with. One thing though; what does Infiniti's arrival mean for the Murano SUV? Surely Nissan doesn't need two X3 chasers on its forecourt at once?

Comment: It won't be the last...

Yesterday's fatal multi-car pile-up on the M7 and M9 motorways was the result of a number of factors and bad driving was just one of them. There's no doubt that excessive speed in the thick fog that blanketed Ireland yesterday, non-use or mis-use of fog lights and even dipped headlights and good old fashioned moronic behaviour were the key factors, but there were some other, even more worrying things to consider.

To create a shunt that stretched for a mile, an awful lot of people had to be in an awful hurry, and no amount of electronic signs telling people that it's foggy (something that they should really be able to notice for themselves) or warnings from the AA and Gardai to use foglights and slow down will change that fact on a day-to-day basis.

One of the key problems facing Irish motorists at the moment is that journey times are stretching out further and further as our urban sprawls extend, and that translates into harassed, harried commuters. Combine that with bad weather (not just fog, could have been ice or even just plain old heavy rain) and the dominoes began to tumble.

There will always be a minority of people who drive like utter idiots and ignore any facet of improving their skills behind the wheel. We can only hope that these particular morons simply wipe out themselves and don't take any innocents with them. But for the rest of us, trying to make it to the office before we're fired for being late, or trying to make it home again to see the kids for at least five minutes before bedtime, the tightrope will continue.

It's symptomatic of a government, and preceeding governments, that has ceased to view you and I as citizens, and instead sees us as economic units. When we're in work and generating income and tax revenue, that's fine, but you can forget about any hope of improving the way things operate outside the office. Road safety and family life? Sure, what chance do they have in a policy environment utterly dominated by big-money lobby groups? And why would politicians care anyway? After all, our own Taoiseach, in a recent radio interview, said that he was going to retire soon, so wasn't too bothered about how things turn out.

And until this government or the next one sees the light and starts to seriously improve the road network, invest serious money in public transport and even starts to look to improving the chances of telecommuting and working from home then the daily commute is going to get tougher and tougher and more dangerous. And this accident will happen again. And take lives again. With elections coming up, maybe it's time to remind your local politicians just how much blood is on their hands.

Defender Of The Faith

This is, honest, the all-new Land Rover Defender, which made its debut on Monday. In spite of the familiar body styling (only the badges and a power bulge in the bonnet ar different) there have been some pretty massive changes underneath.

First up, it gets an all-new engine, a 120bhp 2.4-litre diesel shared with the Ford Transit, and for the first time, there's a six-speed transmission. The interior is all-new too, with a full-width, one-piece fascia, new dials and new seats, and the rear seats on the 90 short wheelbase model now face forwards instead of inwards.

It's certainly more refined on-road, but thankfully, the off-road ability is better than ever, and the Defender remains a true 4x4 in a world of poseur SUVs. Prices should only rise by about 2% model for model, which means a passenger 90 station wagon should cost just over €40,000. You can read a full road test shortly on www.drivemagazine.ie.

Imported China

You're looking at the first MG cars to roll off a Chinese production line, and likely enough, the first Chinese-owned cars to be sold in Europe. The MG TF and MG 7 are updated versions of the Longbridge-built TF and ZT, made in China with a mixture of machinery ripped out of the old factory in Birmingham, and newly-built Chinese presses.

It's not yet clear how many changes have been made to the cars, although the exteriors look more or less identical. Certainly, Nanjing Automotive, which bought the MG brand, will have had to have worked very hard to bring the old K-Series engines up to modern emissions standards, although MG Rover had started work on just that before the final axe fell.

The press release makes no mention of specific sales plans or further new models, nor even of any modifications or improvements to the TF or ZT. It chooses instead to waffle on about the automated production line and how many dignitaries will be at the official launch.

The cars will almost certainly be sold in the UK (and some limited TF production is expected to start up in a corner of what's left of Longbridge soon) so there's a good chance they could end up in Irish dealerships too, although no importer has been appointed as yet. We'll keep you posted.

Hyundai goes upmarket

Yes, they're serious and no, this isn't an early April Fool. Hyundai wants a piece of Lexus and this car, the Concept Genesis, complete with rear wheel drive and a 4.6-litre V8 engine.

It may be officially only a concept for the moment, but this car will appear in Hyundai dealerships in the US and Europe next year, and the Koreans are deadly serious about taking on the luxury car Mafia.

As yet, there is no clear indication as to how the car will be priced (although we'd expect it to be mid-way between a BMW 5 and 7 Series) nor even if it will be imported to Ireland at all. It's a tiny slice of the market, and Hyundai Ireland might rightly feel that a car like this will just confuse people who came in looking for an accent.

It's also not clear if the Genesis name will carry through to production, but with Hyundai having just announced a new naming policy, based around the i30 hatchback, it may well be called i70 or i80, at least in Europe.

It certainly looks good, and the mechanical specification is spot-on, but it remains to be seen just how much Hyundai can prosper in this rarefied atmosphere. After all, even Jaguar, which has one of the most evocative names in the business is struggling, VW can't shift any Phaetons and Lexus, although profitable and successful, still only sells in tiny volumes in Europe, compared to Mercedes and BMW.

Still, considering how far Hyundai has come from its bargain-bucket roots, would you bet against them?

Freelander gets 5-stars

The Land Rover Freelander 2 has become the first ever compact 4x4 to win a full five-stars from EuroNCAP for crash test safety. That's a major improvement on the old Freelander, which only managed a three-star rating. The Suzuki Grand Vitara, tested at the same time as Freelander 2, scored a respectable four-stars.

But the positions are reversed for pedestrian impact scores. The Grand Vitara scored a healthy three-stars here, the Freelander 2 just one-star.

Euro NCAP Secretary General, Adrian Hobbs said ‘I am delighted that Land Rover has made such an improvement to the level of protection offered to its occupants. It is perhaps surprising that, until now, no small off-roader has managed to achieve a five star rating. I am disappointed though that the company has not invested the same effort into improving the level of protection it offers to pedestrians. In this recent test, the Freelander 2 only achieved one star in pedestrian protection, just as it did in 2003. It concerns me that manufacturers are still not considering the dangers posed by their vehicles in relation to the outside environment’.

Fiat launches commercial Sedici

Fiat Ireland has just unveiled a new van version of its popular Sedici compact 4x4. It has switchable four-wheel-drive, sues a 120bhp 1.9-litre diesel engine and car carry 535kg of payload. Prices start from €17,787 ex VAT.

Infiniti launches new coupe, comes to Europe next year

Infiniti, Nissan's US-based luxury arm, has just launched this, the G37 coupe and the good news for European drivers is that is gorgeous, sporty, quick 3.7-litre rear-drive coupe will be coming to these shores in 2008, along with the rest of Infiniti's range as Nissan seeks to emulate Toyota (Lexus) and establish a beach-head in the European luxury car market.

And the G37 won't be alone. We'll also get the G35 saloon (3 Series rival) the FX45 crossover (X5 rival) and an all-new X3-rivalling compact 4x4 that will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in September.

Nissan Ireland hasn't announced any solid plans for Inifinit yet, but given that the name is now well established state-side and Infiniti is claiming it's ready to take on BMW head-on. Can't wait.

Secret super-Caddy is go

Cadillac's revival from its eighties and nineties nadir continues apace, with rumours circulating about a production version of the fabulous 16 concept car (above).

Caddy has just shown its all-new CTS saloon at the Geneva motor show (see below, "New CTS will get diesel) and the brand is on a major revival in the US, with healthy sales and an ever-improving image. It's still early days in Europe and Ireland, but the current CTS and BLS are nice cars, and the potential for the brand to take on the German, Japanese and British luxury marques is obviously there.

But Caddy isn't stopping there it seems, and cigar-chomping GM product chief Bob Lutz (imagine General Patton with a set of car keys) is dropping big hints about a new super-Caddy using an all-new V12 engine and a stretched CTS platform.

In the US, you can buy an STS, essentially a bigger, S-Class-sized CTS but Cadillac apparently wants to do more than just compete size-wise, and it's known that Lutz is a big fan of the 16 concept, and has been pushing for a production version for some time now.

Unfortunately, rumour and innuendo are all we can bring you for now, but with the Paris Motor Show coming up in September, and the Detroit show in January '08, we wouldn't be surprised if Caddy tees something exciting up.

VW-Proton deal to go ahead, but not with Lotus

Volkswagen's deal to buy-out troubled Malaysian car maker Proton is almost done, according to Wolfsburg insiders, but it seems as if the deal will not include Lotus, which is owned by by a different company.

VW's deal is to buy Proton's car manufacturing arm, but Lotus is owned by the umbrella corporation, Proton Holdings. At this point, Lotus isn't part of the deal, although it would certainly make sense to bundle the famous Norfolk-based sportscar company in with the package, as once VW owns the car bit, Proton Holdings doesn't have any other car interests.

Volkswagen wants Proton to secure a low-cost manufacturing base in the far east, that would allow it to develop a cheap 'World' car to rival Renault's successful Romanian-built Logan range. It's not yet known if VW will build cheap cars under the Proton name, but it seems unlikely as outside of Malaysia, few have ever even heard of the name. VW has a deep well of choices for budget brand names anyway. Apart from Skoda, it also owns the rights to NSU, DKW and Wanderer. Oddly, it also owns the rights to the Rickenbacker name, a little-heard-of American car company that was bought up by DKW in the thirties. Don't hold your breath waiting for a Rickenbacker dealership, though.

The move for Proton is a significant one though, as it signals VW's aims not only to compete effectively in emerging car markets, but also a way to reduce the group's overall carbon emissions. VW is currently top-heavy with expensive, high-emissions models thanks to its ownership of Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini, not to mention the fact that Porsche is the single biggest shareholder in VW now. If the EU enforces the 130g/km CO2 limit proposed for 2012, the VW could find itself exposed. A range of small, cheap, low-emissions cars selling in 3rd world markets could be just the thing to offset the grandee European marques' emissions.

As for Lotus, who knows? It could find a happy home at VW, and it would fit neatly into plans to make VWs and Audis more sporting and rewarding to drive, plus it could bring its new cheap hybrid technology to the table (see below "Lotus unveils cheaper hybrid solution"). If not, well, deep-pocketed Dutch supercar maker Spyker have shown an interest in buying Lotus. And, as they already own an F1 team, it could see the return of the famous green and yellow badge to the grid.

Ford Re-Creates '32 Roadsters

In what must be the ultimate piece of retro design, Ford is building 100 recreations of the classic '32 Coupe hot-rod. Based on the humble standard production '32 Ford sedan, the hot-rod, with its 'flathead' V8 engine and pared-down looks has become a motoring icon, the basic shape becoming a blank canvas for generations of car customisers, long before Pimp My Ride was ever even thought of. Heck, before television was even thought of.

The cars will be hand-made from space-frame chassis, and will be offered with a choice of modern-day Ford V8 engines, possibly even the fabulous 500bhp supercharged V8 from the GT. They'll be priced at around $165,000 but you can safely expect them to change hands for vastly more than that. They're being built to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the '32 Ford range.

One thing though. Philosophically, can a hot-rod built by a major car company still be considered a true hot-rod?

New Citroens

Two new Citroens were launched to the Irish market, as the French marque's Irish importer, Gallic distributors works to improve on a disappointing 2006 for the double-chevron badge.

The C4 Picasso 5-seat is a companion piece to the 7-seat version which we've already tested (see www.drivemagazine.ie/roadtests for more) and comes in at a base price of €26,400 with standard-fit ESP and traction control, panoramic windscreen, 7 airbags, electronic parking brake, hill-start assist and cruise control.

Oddly enough, this is still not a replacement for the ageing Xsara Picasso 5-seat MPV, which remains on sale at the bargain bucket price of €23,495. It's identical to its 7-seat brother to drive, just with more rakish rear styling and the same gorgeous interior.

The second new model is the all-new Dispatch van, which as before, is shared with Peugeot (the Expert) and Fiat (the Scudo). The maximum allowable payload is now up to 1,200kg and it can be had in long and short wheelbase forms, with standard or high roof.Prices start from €21,250.

500 looks like a million (dollars)

Praise be, for a car company has at last taken a wonderful, glorious and utterly right concept car and put it into production more or less unchanged. You're looking at the first official photos of the new Fiat 500, which will go on sale across Europe this summer, and which is virtually identical to the brilliant Treipuno concept car of 2003.

The new 500 is, obviously, a throwback to the classic 500 of the fifties, the car that got Italy mobile again after WWII. And like another compact fifties economy car, Fiat wants a piece of the modern-day retro-cool zeitgeist. As with the regenerated Mini, the 500 won't be a cheap or basic model, although it will be affordable. Expect prices to be roughly between the Punto and the new Bravo hatch, at around the €17k mark, with plenty of groovy options to swell the profit margin by a handsome amount.

It's appropriately tiny though, at 3.5-metres long, it's a full foot-and-a-half shorter than a Grande Punto, and will use that car's 1.2-litre 80bhp and 1.4-litre 100bhp petrols, and the brilliant 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel. Expect too, to see a 150bhp Abarth turbocharged version in the near future...

We're not supposed to editorialise in a news piece, but frankly, this is a car that warms the very cockles of our hearts. For the first time in a decade or more, Fiat is not only in profit, but is taking a design lead too. The new 500 may be obviously retro inside and out, but its detailing looks modern and, if Fiat is lucky, it should appeal to exactly the same sort of big-spending buyer who fell so hard for the new Mini.

There's significance beyond the fact of it being a groovy new Fiat too. Although it uses a modified Panda platform, the 500 will also form the basis of the new Ford Ka, as Fiat signed an agreement some time ago to co-develop the two cars with the Blue Oval. This means that Fiat gets to spread its development costs, get better value for money out of the 500's Polish production plant and share in the more or less guaranteed success of the new Ka into the bargain. It hasn't even gone on sale yet, and already the 500 is looking like a success, both stylistically and financially.

Young Irish designers win Peugeot award

Peugeot’s fourth online International Design Competition was launched in September 2006 and attracted over 4,000 entries from 113 countries worldwide, setting a new record for Peugeot. The youngest ever winner of the competition, 20-year old Romanian Mihai Panaitescu, received a cheque for €6,000 from Frederic Saint Geours, CEO of Automobiles Peugeot, at the opening of the 77th International Geneva Motor Show. Automobiles Peugeot paid particular tribute to three entrants from Ireland, winners of the Irish heat. Ben Millett from Boyle, Alan Harrison from Ballina and Owen O’Reilly from Sandycove each will receive prizes from Gowan Distributors Limited, Peugeot Importers in Ireland, for their efforts in the worldwide competition.

The Peugeot 909 Concept was created by Ben Millett, aged 18 from Boyle who is currently studying at Institute of Technology Sligo. “The basic theory behind the design of the 909 is to provide a modern vehicle, with an attractive and stylish appearance suitable for long distance travel at high speeds whilst providing heightened security for passengers by using a protection system which utilises data from the surrounding environment computer analysis to create the safest possible travelling,” said Ben of his creation.

C-Max goes green too

Ford Ireland has just introduced the C-Max Flexi-Fuel, a bio-fueled version of its compact mpv to sit alongside the Focus FFV hatch and estate in its burgeoning eco-friendly car line-up.

Like the two Focus models (and the Volvo S40 and V50 Flexi-Fuel) the C-Max FFV runs Ford's familiar 125bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine, which has been tweaked and modified to run on E85 bio-ethanol, regular unleaded or any combination of the two. When running on E85, and when taking the whole-life carbon cycle into account, the C-Max FFV emits around 80% less CO2 than a conventional petrol-engined car.

Ford is pushing hard to make bio-fuel vehicles more desirable. Ford Insure, it's insurance arm, is promising 20% reductions in premuiums to FFV drivers, and thanks to a 50% VRT rebate on eco-friendly cars, the list price of the C-Max FFV is just €21,921 (the Focus FFV hatch costs €20,710) compared to a basic C-Max 1.6-litre petrol model, which costs €22,520. Currently, Maxol is Ireland's only supplier of E85, with 14 filling stations around the country selling the fuel. That number is expected to rise to 24 by the end of the year.

Yaris gets sporty. Well, sporty-ish.

This is the new Yaris SR, which as of today becomes the flagship Yaris model and also the genesis of a new sporty sub-brand for Toyota, which in recent years, and in spite of its F1 team, has shown utter disdain for anything approaching sporty or high-performance models.

And in keeping with the corporate way, the Yaris SR isn't really sporting at all. In fact, SR stands for Sporting and Refined, which sounds a bit limp-wristed compared to the likes of Opel;s rip-snorting OPC range, or Renault's high-amp RenaultSport.

There will be a 1.8-litre, 130bhp VVTi petrol engine available in the Yaris SR, but it'll be strictly special order only in Ireland and we doubt that Toyota will sell more than a handful here. But the SR brand runs wider than that; the subtle bodykit and sportier wheels and tyres will be available across the Yaris range and you can expect to see Auris and Avensis SR models shortly as well. Probably not Prius SR though...

Morgan to create zero-emissions sports car

Just when you think you've seen it all in this job (Fiat recovers, Porsche buys VW, Hyundai makes a good car, people in Ireland start buying estates) something comes along and smacks you round the side of the head, to remind you that nothing is truly predictable.

Morgan, yes the same Morgan that has been building the same car since 1936 and still makes the body frames from hand-shaped ash, has announced that it will build a fun-to-drive, zero-emissions hydrogen fuel-cell sports car. Now, if this had been announced by, say, Toyota or Ford or, heck, even Ferrari, we wouldn't have batted an eyelid. But Morgan?

But it seems they're serious, serious enough to release this artist's impression of what the finished car will look like, and to already claim that it will have a touring range of 200 miles on a tankful of hydrogen or plutonium or whatever they're going to run it on.

Now, we would normally dismiss it at this point as yet another crackpot plan by a small British sports car company, one that could actually endanger the very life of that company should it all go pear-shaped. But. But in amongst the list of other organisations that Morgan is collaborating with on this project, three stand out. Cranfield University and Oxford University are obviously providing the boffin power for this project, and their combined research facilities are immense. But the third one really stands out. Linde AG is a German company specialising in industrial gas production (that'll be the hydrogen then) and forklifts. But it's run by Wolfgang Reitzle the former boss of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo and Land Rover) and also a former senior board member of BMW. We all wondered why Reitzle left Ford to go to such an unheralded company, but maybe this project with Morgan could see him return to the car world in triumphant, planet-saving fashion.

We can't wait to find out...

Lexus wins safety award...

If ever a car deserved an award for being high-tech, it's the Lexus LS460. So stuffed with technology is it that it's like a Cray Super-Computer with wheels. Next thing you know it'll be talking in a monotone voice and referring to itself as 'HAL'.

In the meantime, influential German car mag Auto Bild has awarded the LS technical development of the year trophy for its ingenious pre-safe crash system.

The standard Pre-Crash Safety System currently fitted to the LS 460 operates through a combination of a radar based obstacle detection system, driver warning of potential collision, pre-arming of brakes and airbags, retraction of seat belts and automatic initial application of the brakes.

Speaking in Dublin, Lexus Ireland marketing manager Aiden Connolly said “The Lexus ‘Advanced Pre-Crash Safety System’ will become available in Ireland on all LS versions on the introduction of the LS 600h later this year. It is a further advancement on the already innovative ‘Pre-Crash Safety System’ currently in operation on the LS 460 and a further valuable contribution to the safety of LS drivers in particular, but also general road users."

...while Jag wins environment award

For those of you who stare, with looks of piercing hatred, at the drivers of big, luxurious, expensive cars as they waft expensively past you, we have a bit of a wake-up call. Those fat-cats aren't just swooshing around town in highly-priced, leather-lined luxo-barges for the good of their own health; they're helping to save the planet. Well, they are if they're driving the Jaguar XJ TDVi with it's 2.7-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine, anyway, as it's just been named the greenest luxury car by the Environmental Transport Association in the UK.The ETA cited Jaguar for its forward-thinking policy of creating a lightweight, all-aluminium luxury car, with stunning low CO2 emissions (139g/km), a figure that beats most family hatchbacks.

The ETA guide lists 2,500 new cars and provides a star-based ranking system
that gives consumers an overview of any vehicle's performance against the
following categories; power, carbon dioxide emissions, fuel consumption,
noise and safety. The XJ beat off strong competition from the Mercedes-Benz
S320 and BMW 7 Series to claim this award - following in the footsteps of
its stable mate, the X-TYPE, which won the category in 2006.

Managing Director of Jaguar in the UK, Geoff Cousins said: "We fully
recognise our responsibility to the environment and are committed to playing
our role in developing technology solutions in cars, fuels and
infrastructure to address climate change - this award shows we are heading
in the right direction."

Ceed gets a diesel

The Kia Ceed is getting a new 1.6-litre diesel to sit alongside the 1.4 petrol engine already available.

The all new 1.6 CRDi turbodiesel features a common rail fuel injection system and advanced variable geometry turbocharger (VGT). The unit delivers it’s maximum, 115bhp at 4,000rpm and 255 Nm of torque between 1,900 and 2,750 rpm. It returns a 0-100km time of 11.5 seconds, a top speed of 188kph and combined economy of 4.7l/100km combined economy of 4.7l/100km and CO2 emissions at 125 g/km.

It's priced from €23,495 and is on sale now.

GM makes money again! Sort of.

GM has just announced, late, its financial results for the last quarter of 2006. And for the first time in years, it's in the black, with a net profit of $950 million. Now, GM isn't getting carried away about this (and neither should we) because in spite of this last-quarter uplift, overall in 2006, the world's biggest car maker (just, still) lost $2-billion. Which is still a major improvement on the $10.5 billion loss in 2005, and proof that CEO Rick Wagoner (above) was right to press on with GM's massive restructuring plan ($6.8 billion in cost cuts, 34,000 redundancies, 12 factory closures) and ignore merger overtures from Renault-Nissan, board-room bust-ups with billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian and the looming threat of being overtaken by Toyota at the top of the charts.

What is especially heartening for GM is that the smaller loss (although it's a little mind-boggling to describe 2 billion of anything as smaller) and the final quarter profit was made on the same turnover ($51-billion in the last quarter of 2006) as in Q4, 2005. In other words, GM is making more (or at least losing less) on each individual car, crucial if it is to take on the Japanese challenge.

Meanwhile, across town at Chrysler, things are looking bleak. Reports have it that the books have been shown to takeover specialists Cerberus Capital Management, which means that a Mercedes sell-off of its troubled US arm is more and more likely. DaimlerChrysler chief Dieter Zetsche is saying nothing other than 'all options are being considered.' Which sounds to us similar to a Premiership chairman saying that the manager has 'the board's complete confidence.' Relegation beckons, we suspect.

Volvo goes flexi-fuel in Ireland

Like the environment-loving Swedes you'd expect them to be, Volvo has just launched its first bio-fuel compatible cars in Ireland, 1.8-litre 125bhp versions of the S40 and V50. Both cars use the same engine as found in the Ford Focus FFV and C-Max FFV, and it can run on a diet of E85 bio-fuel (currently only supplied in Ireland by Maxol, which is supplied by Carbery Foods in Cork, who make the fuel by distilling leftover why from cheese making) or conventional 95 RON unleaded or any mixture of the two. Unlike fellow Scandinavian Saab, whose 9-5 2.0-turbo gets a 30bhp boost when running on bio-fuel (which has a higher octane rating than unleaded) the S40 and V50 put out the same power regardless of the fuel mix.

Although CO2 emissions at the exhaust pipe are actually higher than when running on unleaded, because of bio-fuel's lower calorific content, which means you have to burn more of it for the same performance, the Flexi-Fuel Volvos actually emit around 80% less carbon than a conventional car, when taking the entire carbon cycle into consideration. That's because the carbon emitted by burning the fuel is absorbed by the next batch of plants being grown for more fuel.

"In Ireland, while the infrastructure for bioethanol is still in its infancy, the interest is certainly growing" says David Baddeley, Managing Director for Volvo Cars in Ireland. "As such we are delighted that Ireland is in the forefront of countries to be able to benefit from the significant developments in flexifuel cars made by Volvo in Sweden."

Both cars gain a 50% VRT reduction thanks to their environmental friendliness, so the 1.8-litre S40 Flexi-Fuel SE only costs €28,300. That's €50 less than a basic, petrol-only S40 1.6.

New Conti van tyre.

Continental tyres has just launched its latest van-specific tyre, the Vanco 2, which promises better economy and load performance for users.

It comes at a time when light commercial vehicle sales are vastly outstripping sales of passenger cars across Europe. LCV sales have grown 60% in the past decade, compared to a passenger car market whose fortunes have fluctuated wildly.

Product manager at Continental, Peter Robb, said; “The new Vanco 2 is an important update for us. With 20% more mileage compared to the old model, high load resistance for demanding applications, excellent wet braking with outstanding aquaplaning protection to improve safety for all road users. The robust design of the Vanco 2 makes it perfect for both long distance and inner city use.”

Punto No.1 in Europe. Again.

For all those of us who had the sack-cloth and ashes ready and waiting a year or so ago, poised for Fiat to gently tip over and plummet into the abyss of bankruptcy, this is still a bit of a shock. Fiat was, for a while there, the most financially unhealthy car company we've ever seen (expect possibly MG Rover, which had cash reserves of about 50p when it died) yet somehow, against every Vegas odd going, the Italians pulled it back from the brink and now, Fiat's in rude good health, making profits of almost €5-million a day. Every day.

And it's mostly thanks to this, the Grand Punto which was bought by a total of 66,624 customers across Europe in January and February, making it the best-selling car overall. The smaller Panda made a contribution too, selling 45,765 units. Now, we wait with baited breath to see if the new Bravo can continue this remarkable resurgence. It goes on sale here in June.

VW Group announces big changes

He's only had his feet under the desk for a couple of months, but new VW boss Martin Winterkorn (above) is already making big changes to the way Volkswagen and its various subsidiaries operate.

First priority is to make the Golf more profitable. The Golf is an extremely complex car that takes nearly twice as long to build as most rivals, a process that eats badly into VW's profit margin. An all new sixth-generation Golf is planned for 2010, and plans are already in place to make it cheaper and quicker to build without losing the sense of high quality that drives so many Golf sales. It's possible that some of the production changes may be introduced along with a minor facelift as early as next year.

Winterkorn is also instigating a major staff shake-up, bringing in some loyal lieutenants from his former job as head of Audi. First up, Erish Schmitt, former head of Audi purchasing, has been parachuted in to try and revive ailing Seat. It has been suggested that VW may sell off its troubled Spanish division, but Schmitt has announced a major product shake-up, with two all-new models on the way: a sports saloon based on Passat architecture and a compact SUV rival to the Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail, presumably based on the forthcoming VW Tiguan. Schmitt has promised to place greater emphasis on Seat's Mediteranean qualities, saying that currently, "Seat is run too much like a German firm."

Meanwhile, it's all change over at Bugatti. Thomas Bscher, the charismatic banker/entrepeneur/racing driver, the man who finally brought the complex Veyron supercar to production (and sold enough to keep the Bugatti boys busy for the next two years) has handed in his notice, apparently because of a conflict over future prodcution plans. Bscher wanted Bugatti to start work on a more affordable, higher-profit sports car that had the spectacular looks and style of the Veyron but was much easier and more cost-effective tp produce. But because Porsche is now VW's single-biggest shareholder, it seems that Winterkorn was reluctant to let Bugatti tread too heavily on the famous Weissach-based company's toes, and the plans were shelved. Bscher, it seems, has left in a huff. Bentley boss Fraz-Josef Pfagen will take over at Bugatti (in addition to his Bentley work) until a future for the brand can be worked out.

Autobahn speed limit threat

Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner has made calls for Germany to place speed limits on the entire Autobahn network as a way of cutting CO2 emissions from fast-moving traffic. Mr Dimas also said, in an interview with German newspaper Bild Am Sonntag, that there would be many safety benefits too.

Thankfully, and this is where Germany-bound car nuts can breathe a sigh of relief, the German government has responded by saying that as the Autobahn network only accounts for 2% of Germany's total road mileage, the CO2 cut would only be in the region of half a percentage point. Th German transport ministry reckons that's not a sufficient benefit to make the changes. Phew.

Sold! Aston Martin under new ownership

After nearly two decades under the Ford umbrella, Aston Martin has been sold to an investment group headed up by David Richards of Prodrive and Subaru World Rally Team fame, with finance coming from American and Middle East sources.

Ford has apparently made €700 from the deal, and will retain a 10% stake in Aston, which will ensure Ford shares in Aston's recent success, and also ensures that the new owners maintain Aston's access to Ford's technology resources, as well as keeping engine supplies flowing from Ford plants in Bridgend, Wales (V8) and Cologne, Germany (V12). Ford will be looking to re-invest the money into Jaguar, which is currently dragging the Premier Automotive Group's (Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo and, until now, Aston) profits down at an alarming rate. The cash will be a much-needed boost to Jaguar's engineers as they make the final tweaks to the crucial new XF saloon that replaces the S-Type this autumn. Ford's American bean-counters will doubtless also be happy with a big chunk of money coming in, as well as not having to pay 1,800 salaries at Aston any more.

Ulrich Bez, the current Aston boss will remain in charge of the frim, with David Richards slotting in as a non-executive chairman. Aston, as yet, has not been absorbed into Richards' Prodrive empire, and is unlikely to be for the forseeable future.

Now that the sale is over, Aston Martin can get back to concentrating on new models. It has recently shown new cars like the DBS (a replacement for the Vanquish), V8 Vantage Volante convertible and the Rapide, a stretched 4-door DB9. All three are now likely to make production, with the emphasis being on bringing the crucial V8 Volante to the market. Bez's intention for Aston Martin is to match Bentley's recent 10,000 sales a year success, which is astounding for a company that, just over a decade ago, was building barely 100 cars a year.

It is not anticipated that any staff cuts will be announced, and the price tag includes Aston's state-of-the-art factory in Gaydon, Warwickshire and the old HQ at Newport Pagnell, which will no longer be a factory once Vanquish production finishes, but will remain in place for one-off special vehicles as well as restoration and servicing of older Astons, a lucrative business down the years.

Interstingly, Richards' Prodrive company has a guaranteed place on the 2008 Formula One grid, and is currently establishing a HQ and team roster, and is planning to run customer McLaren-Mercedes chassis and engines. Would anyone care to place bets as to what name the new team might adopt?

First-ever Cadillac Estate

Cadillac has just pulled the wraps off the first estate car in its glittering 104-year history. First that is, if you don't count the Escalade and SRX 4x4s as estate, and Cadillac obviously doesn't, so let's press on.

The BLS Wagon is based on the compact BLS saloon which is in turn based on the Saab 9-3 saloon. It's a pretty natural extension of the BLS range, considering that Saab already has its Sports Wagon ready to donate its structure, and sporty, compact estate are big sales news in the UK and on the Continent. Not so much in Ireland, it has to be said, although sales of such cars have defintely picked up of late.

As with the saloon, there are four engine options, a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol with either 175 or 210bhp, a 2.8-litre V6 turbo with 255bhp and a 1.9 diesel with 150bhp and a super-clean particulate trap. Going on our experience of the BLS saloon, (which we quite like, even if it fails to disguise its Saab roots sufficiently) the 175bhp petrol will be the pick of the range.

Prices should work out at about €1,500 to €2,000 more than the saloon model, so expect a base price in the region of €41,500 when the Wagon goes on sale in the latter part of this year.

Greener Fords on the way

Ford has announced that it is going to rapidly expand its fleet of bio-fuel compatible vehicles this year, starting with the new Mondeo, which goes on sale in Ireland in June.

The existing Focus and C-Max Flexi-Fuel vehicles (which can run on any mixture of regular unleaded or E85 bio-ethanol) will be joined by Mondeo, Galaxy and S-Max variants. Ford has also announced that all its divisions, including Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo, will announce developments of a host of alternative fuel projects shortly. Volvo has already promised a plug-in hybrid version of the C30 (which uses batteries that can be recharged by mains electricity as well as by the engine and regenerative braking systems) and Land Rover is currently working on compact hybrid boost engines for its range, which should see the light of day in the next four to five years.

The anouncement comes as the EU considers imposing a 130g/km CO2 limit on cars for 2012, as well as the statement yesterday that European governments are committing to cutting 20% of CO2 emissions by 2020.

Interestingly, Ford's statement made no mention of eco-friendly technologies for Aston Martin, which is now coming to the end of its sell-off. Rumour this morning has it that David Richard's Prodrive organisation has won the STG£450 million rights to Aston. Watch this space.

Hard Ferrari Announced

So, is the announcement of a sharper, harder-edged version of the Ferrari F430 a knee-jerk reaction to the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera? Well Ferrari probably wouldn't thank you for saying so, but probably yes, it is. Even in a time of global car companies and multi-national managements, local rivalry still plays a part.

But the forthcoming lightweight F430 won't, according to Ferrari, be a direct replacement for the old 360 Challenge Stradale, a barely-legal street racer. The F430 version will me more useable, refined and will probably feaure such nicities as air coniditoning and proper electric windows (the old 360 CS had a fixed, perspex window with a flap). It will draw inspiration from the F430 challenge racing series cars (above) though. Rumours abound that Ferrari is planning an all-carbon body for the F430 to make it even lighter than the lightweight Gallardo, but no solid details have been announced yet.

Russian Return?

Could Lada be about to make a return to Western Europe? The famous(ly bad) Russian car company was last seen round these parts trying to sell the Samara hatchback (above) and the Cossack off-roader, but it faded away in a fog of bad cars and worse jokes.

But although we haven't seen Ladas in Ireland for a while, the company is far from finsihed. In fact it's a roaring success, building over 700,000 vehicles a year and, more crucially, it's just signed two interesting co-operation agreements.

First up is an all-new c-segment hatchback, designed and built in conjunction with Magna-Steyr, an Austrian company that you may never have heard of, but without whom there would be no right-hand-drive Chryslers or Jeeps, and no new Fiat Bravo either.

Even more significantly, Lada has also signed an agreement to build Lada-badged versions of Chevrolet's new Captiva 4x4, and while that car may have been engineered in Korea, it's no cheap hack; the same bits will also make the new Opel Antara and possibly a small Saab 4x4. So is it impossible that RHD Ladas may soon make a return to Ireland? Don't bet against it...

Mosley calls for standard ESP

Max Mosley, the head of the FIA and the driving force behind the EuroNCAP crash tests has called for car makers to fit electronic stability control to all cars as standard, and for governments to porvide fiscal incentives for them to do so.

According to Mosley, the FIA has figures that show that up to 35% of all single vehicle accidents could have been avoided if ESP were fitted. He went on to say that most SVA crashes involve young people driving small, affordable cars that are less likely to be fitted with ESP.

But according to the FIA, governments should provide tax breaks on models fitted with ESP to encourage car makers to fit it to even the cheapest models, similar to a system Germany introduced to encourage the fitment of catalytic convertors. And given that the European figure for the fiscal cost of each road fatality runs to an average of €1 million, the exchequer would actually save money overall. Needless to say, that takes no account of the horrendous personal cost of each road death.

Incidentally, if you order ESP as an option on a car bought in Ireland, like every other optional extra you purchase, you will pay up to 30% VRT and 21% VAT on it. So what's the cost of saving lives in Ireland?

Camaro confirmed with RHD

Lovers of American sports cars (and we know you're out there) rejoice, for the Chevrolet Camaro (above) will be made with right-hand-drive. In a press statement at the Geneva Motor Show, General Motors confirmed that all its new vehciles would be designed and built on a global basis, with right-hand-drive engineeered into all platforms from the get-go.

Global Chevrolet models, which until now have been exclsuvely designed and engineered in GM's Korean outpost (neé Daewoo) will now be shared with all brands as needs be, and development will be with world-wide sales in mind. Korea will still ahve repsonsibility for the next C-segment platform, which will create replacements for the Chevrolet Lacetti and Opel Astra, as well as a possible Audi A3 rival from Saab.

No plans to officially bring the Camaro to Ireland have yet been confirmed, but wouldn't it look great, sat in the showroom, between a Matiz and a Tacuma?

Fruit boost for Spanish cars

The Spanish state of Valencia has decided to start fueling its cars with orange juice. Well, not exactly, but a plan has been put in place to convert the millions of tonnes of waste orange peel into bio-fuel. E85 bio-ethanol can be distilled from the leftover peel that results from Valencia's massive orange and citrus fruit juice industry.

The Valencian government reckons that around 20-million litres of fuel could be made each year from the leftover peel and pulp, and that amount could easily increase as more juicing plants are opened. It takes about 1 tonne of peel and pulp to make 80-litres of E85.

An, ahem, 'Insight' into Honda's future

Actually, Honda people will get very upset if you refer to this, the Small Hybrid Sports Concept as the new Insight, becuase, according to them, the SHSC is far greater an idea than the Insight ever was.

It uses the Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system that we've sampled in the Civic Hybrid saloon, and which is also coming to the Civic hatchback later this year.

Around that environmentally-friendly drivetrain is wrapped a low-slung, tear-drop shaped sportscar body with seats for two. It uses a 1.4-litre VTEC petrol engine mated to an electric motor and batteries, and returns, Honda reckons, 3.5-litres per 100km on the combined cycle, with CO2 emissions of just 120g/km.

A more productionised version will be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show later this year, and the SHSC will go on sale in 2008.

The Benchmark is back

This may be officially called the BMW M3 Concept, but don't be fooled, this IS the all-new BMW M3 that will be arriving on a dealer forecourt near you very shortly, and it stands a chance of being the best all-round performance car you can buy.

Full details aren't forthcoming at the moment, as BMW is keeping its lips sealed on the final technical specification but we know this much: A V8 engine of either 4.0 or 4.2-litre capacity, with power in the 420bhp ballpark. A six-speed manual or seven-speed SMG paddle shift gearbox. The highly-praised M-Differential which apportions power to the rear wheel with the most grip. And, best of all, a carbon-fibre roof that lowers the centre of gravity and keeps overall weight down.

Best of all, being as it's based on the exisiting E92 Coupe, we know it'll be spacious, comfortable and practical as well, making it a genuine day-to-day car with genuinely Porsche-scaring performance.

We'll have to wait a little longer for full technical details, and even longer for a test drive, but something tells us it'll be worth the wait.

If you win the Lotto tonight...

Not wanting to be out-done by their former colleagues at Rolls-Royce (see blelow), Bentley has unveiled the Brooklands Coupe, of which just 550 will be built.

It's based on the existing Azure convertible, and Bentley is promising 'supercar levels of performance' from the much-modified 530bhp turbocharged V8, an engine that has been in production since 1959.

The interior is as luxurious and decadent as you'd expect of a Bentley, with half a forest of wood and several cows of leather, and each owner can personalise the car as far as their wallets will allow.

If you have to ask, you can't afford, but reckon on about €450,000 to drive one away with an Irish plate on it.

Tug your forelock, man!

After much teasing with the 100EX concept, here it is at last, the first new Rolls-Royce since the Phantom was launched in 2003 and the first convertible Rolls since the old Corniche ceased production some time ago.

It's called the Phantom Drophead Coupe and is based on the same all-aluminium chassis as the four-door, and uses its wonderful 6.75-litre V12 engine. Like the Phantom, it has rear-hinged doors which Rolls-Royce likes to refer to as Carriage Doors and the same sumptuous interior, swathed in hand-finished wood and leather.

The bonnet is available in brushed steel and the rear 'deck' can be had, appropriately, in solid teak. Apparently, if you specify the teak, oiling the wood becomes a standard procedure at the service intervals.

Don't assume that the patrician Rolls grille and teak decking means that it'll feel like a yacht to drive though. We've driven the Phantom saloon and that handles and drives like a car one quarter of its size, so the shorter, "less formal" as Rolls likes to put it, Drophead should be even better again to drive. Expect an Irish price in the region of €600-€650,000 (a snip!), alhtough the first one off the production line has already been sold, for charity, for $2,000,000, with the money going to the Naples charity for underpriviliged children.

The new face of Mazda

This is the Hakaze concept car and it's the latest in a recent glut of such cars to come from Mazda, as the company tries to nail down its future design direction.

And while you might be thinking that this looks like a bit of a wacky concept car with Lamborghini-style doors and an interior inspired by kite-surfing (and it is) apparently, it could be closer to production reality than you'd think. Senior Mazda execs are already talking about putting the Hakaze into production and not as some watered-down version that's been hacked and compromised to fit on an existing platform. Nope, even such far-out item as those flip-up doors and the mini-cams that replace the wing mirrors are being penciled in to hit showrooms unchanged.

And don't think that the Hakaze will conflict with the shortly-arriving CX-7 crossover either. The CX-7 is a bigger, Mazda 6-based car, whereas the Hakaze is, in spite of its imposing appearance, closer to a 3 hatchback in size.

We'll see you down the local Mazda dealer in a year or so to find out if it happens or not.

Altea gains altitude

Seat has just unveiled its first-ever 4x4 at the Geneva Motor Show, and it's based on the recently-launched Altea XL. Basically, the Freetrack Prototype is an Altea with an extra 185mm of height, butch-looking plastic add-ons and the four-wheel-drive system from the VW Golf 4Motion.

It uses the VW group's familiar 2.0-litre 140bhp TDI engine and, being as Seat show cars named Prototype have a habit of appearing in showrooms, should be on sale by the end of this year. We doubt that the Freetrack's distinctive four-seat cabin will make production though. It will more likely use the standard Altea interior.

One thing though; does the appearance of the Altea Freetrack mean that there won't be a Seat version of VW's new Tiguan SUV?

The next Prius?

Are we looking at the shape of the next-generation Prius? It's a little hard to say, and if you're wondering why that is, then let us show you a brief passage from the press release regarding this, the Toyota Hybrid X concept:

"Hybrid X follows the core values of the Toyota brand design philosophy under two consistent themes: J-Factor and Vibrant Clarity. J-Factor refers to the local and global acceptance of Japanese-inspired design and cultural form, while Vibrant Clarity is the design language used to express the J-Factor. Through Vibrant Clarity, designers will infuse future vehicles with a completely original identity and emotional intensity that will be uniquely identifiable as coming from Toyota."

Right. That either means "Yes, this is the shape of the next Prius, but we don't want to come right out and say it yet." Or, it means "Don't be ridiculous. You think people would really by a car that looks a space-age as this?"

Clear as mud then, but the Hybrid X does offer up some interesting pointers for future Toyotas. First off, it uses drive-by-wire steering, which does away with a conventional steering column and instead controls the front wheel electronically. There are legislative barriers ahead of such a system at the moment, but if they were surmounted, steer-by-wire could have massive benefits for economy, crash protection and interior space, not to mention making swapping from left- to right-hand-drive easier.

It also uses lightweight, foam-injected rear seats that can be swivelled through 12-degrees so that rear passengers can either have a better view out through the windows, or face into each other for an in-depth conversation. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see that on a future Toyota MPV.

Unfortunately, given the recent rumblings over CO2 emissions, there's no word on whether the Hybrid X uses a lighter, more efficient Hybrid Synergy Drive.