For some reason, Mitsubishi has thrived on loyalists and cult followers for the past years with Asian markets being more lucrative for them over the US market. Now, Mitsubishi’s intent on gaining back a good portion of the market even budgeting millions on advertising to accomplish just that.

They’ll also be participating in the Geneva motor show with the new Mitsubishi ASX (RVR in the Japanese market). You might remember the ASX as the Concept cX from a real while back. Its Japanese name (RVR) was formerly slapped on the Space Runner/Expo LRV MPV from the 90s.

The ASX is powered by a 1.8L MIVEC turbodiesel engine mated to a 6-speed manual.

The car also boasts of enough space for various purposes thanks to 169-inch long body. It’s a bit shorter than the Mitsubishi Outlander SUV.

Check out this stunning new concept car that Mercedes-Benz will be bringing to the Geneva motor show – the Mercedes F800 Style. The car is basically a showcase of Merc’s future design language and previews the upcoming CLS.

The car is a “multi-drive” platform” meaning that it will be able to accommodate different powerplants. It will be powered by a choice between two green powerplants – a hydrogen fuel cell and a plug-in hybrid.

The hydrogen fuel cell is powered by a 100kW motor that develops 214 lb-ft of torque. It offers a 375-mile range and offers real 0-emissions driving.

The plug-in hybrid is composed of a 299 bhp 3.5L V6 gasoline engine paired with an 80 kW electric motor which are mated to a seven-speed ‘box.

The car’s basically a four-door coupe with space inside for five people. It’d be interesting to see how Merc will be moving forward with these technologies and the design language as well.

And that’s basically it, fellow gearheads. Green is the color of inevitability.

The Toyota-Subaru co-developed FT-86 will get to production phase by 2012 and will enter the UK market with a price tag of sub-£20,000 for the entry-level model.

The car is powered by a 2.0L boxer engine adapted from Subaru’s flat-four. While it doesn’t dish out as much torque and power to rotate the earth, but the key to the car’s performance is its size and weight.

The car’s pretty standard though. RWD with a six-speed manual. However, the key in the car is its waif-like weight tipping the scales at 1250 kg. For drift lovers out there, the car’s proper limited slip differential combined with its RWD layout might just be enough for some sideways action.

As far as sports coupes go, the car’s no bigger than an Audi TT. Don’t be fooled by the images, the lines actually make it look larger than it really is. Rumors have it that the shell might not be the one going into production.

Opel has got something to show you at the Geneva motor show. This here’s the Opel Flextreme GT/E concept – a 5-door coupe that’s set to show Opel’s E-REV technology.

The car is powered by a electric drive unit dishing out 160 hp mated to a 1.4L gasoline engine dishing out 71 hp. Yup. This is one case where the electric motor’s more powerful than the internal combustion one.

That much power doesn’t really give the car a whole lot of juice to dust many coupes out there. 0-62 is a slugging 9 seconds and a top speed of 124 mph is decent enough but won’t rip your spleen out. But that’s not bad for a green machine though.

It does suffer from the 3-hour charging time to juice up its lithium-ion batteries. On the electric motor, the car can only go 37 miles. With the gasoline engine, the car can go 311 miles giving it a range of 147 mpg.

All the announcements of debuts at the Geneva motor show gives the much needed breath of life to motor shows. Somehow motor shows became less eventful last year thanks to the economic crisis.

This might not be a new exotic car but small zippy cars are always welcome debuts in my book. Meet the new Volkswagen Polo GTi which will be unveiled at next month’s Geneva motor show.

The car packs a 1.4L TSI engine that’s turbo- and supercharged to get a whopping 178 bhp. (From a 1.4!) The car’s also equipped with an XDS front differential to cope with the massive torque steer expected to mess with the steering. The only transmission available for the car upon release is VW’s 7-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox.

That allows the car to hit 0-62 in just 6.9 seconds and reach all the way up to 142 mph. Now that’s a pocket rocket if you ever saw one. That’s almost enough to nip at the heels of the Golf GTi.

The car’s expected to be priced starting at £18,000.

Now this is what the CR-Z should’ve been in the first place – a sporty and aggressive looking car that dishes out at least 200 hp.

This here’s the Honda CR-Z Type R. Instead of the 1.5L i-VTEC engine that dishes out 122 hp paired with an IMA hybrid system found in the standard CR-Z, this one packs a 2.0L dishing out 150 hp paired with a larger 50 hp electric motor.

That’d allow the CR-Z Type R to go from 0-60 mph in just 6 seconds and go all the way to 140 mph. The car also gets a drive system with four selections – Sport, Econ, Normal and a Sport Plus setting (exclusive to the Type R).

The car’s also fitted with better brakes and stiffer suspensions to round up the Type R package.

Mind you that the Type R is just a performance version and is technically still part of the CR-Z lineup. Mugen is reported to be basing its version of the CR-Z for its reworked version.

Michael Schumacher thinks that his team – Mercedes GP – has a great chance to clinch the title this season. Schumacher thinks that the new car has got what it takes to give every team a real competition.

This is despite finishing 8th fastest in the 2nd round of tests in Spain. He managed to be the third fastest in the 1st round of tests. Still, that shows that the old dog has a lot of bite and give the younger pups a lesson out on the track.

Schumacher officially comes out of retirement this season teaming up again with Ross Brawn with whom he has previously teamed up in Benetton and Ferrari team and won championships.

His 2009 comeback (supposedly filling in for the injured Felipe Massa for Ferrari) was trumped by his motorcycle injuries sustained earlier in the year. Schumacher now claims to be in tip-top condition for the full season.

So Porsche decided to slap on a V6 to their four-door performance saloon. It took a while before they finally came out with it but here it is – the Porsche Panamera V6.

The car packs a 3.6L V6 engine that dishes out 296 bhp and and 296 lb-ft of torque. The engine channels power to either two and four wheels. The car gets a PDK dual-clutch.

The V6 Panamera’s lighter than the S and 4S counterparts by 66 lbs. Might not be much but that’s the difference of having a child in the car helping just even a wee bit in the economy figures. The car also gets start-stop as standard.

The car will be officially launched at the Beijing auto show. Prices will start at £61,461 for the two-wheel drive, and £66,929 for the four-wheel drive.

The travesty that is the biblical amount of recalled Toyota vehicles are placing stress on all levels of the Toyota chain. Toyota dealers are getting quite irate with Toyota in the midst of all the mess that the Japanese giant is making them go through.

Dealerships are at the very least unhappy with how things are getting handled and expressed their sentiments at a National Automobile Dealers Association convention.

“There’s a goddamned gap in communication,” says Mike Sullivan, an LA Toyota dealer.

Such sentiments were caused by the apparent lack of discussions between Toyota execs and their dealership network. Many of the dealerships were caught unawares that they’d be expecting a deluge of vehicles that needed the accelerator fix.

All the while Toyota announced that the dealerships will be ready to take on the affected customers.

Tsk tsk tsk, Toyota.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Hey, remember that announcement last week that Honda will be updating the Ridgeline come 2011? Well, the latest skinny on the matter says that it that would not be the case.

“American Honda apologizes if there was inaccurate information shared at the Chicago Auto Show about the Honda Ridgeline pickup. I can confirm that there will be no significant change to the Ridgeline through the 2011 model year,” said Honda PR Christina Ra.

Honda AVP for product planning Vicki Poponi initially announced that updates will be made on the Ridgeline after five years of stagnancy.

Perhaps Honda’s still deliberating on the Ridgeline’s place in the company’s strategy. Honda is currently competing to be the world’s greenest automaker and has focused on developing hybrids.

Source: Pickup Trucks

Hyundai is really into lifting its brand image. Sure enough, the Korean giant has made quite the achievement shedding its old shoddy image and is now a legit worldwide competitor. It has even surpassed FoMoCo as the 4th largest automaker in the world.

Now Hyundai seems to be intent on stomping on Ford by gunning for the Mondeo with the Hyundai i-flow.

Not too many details have been released regarding this Mondeo killer but Hyundai claims that it will be a stylish saloon that previews the look of its new D-segment contender.” That “i-” thing hints on a possible hybrid system. Hyundai claims that the car will boast of lightweight materials and solar cells to help on energy efficiency.

The car will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next month.

Hyundai should be making this concept exceptional. The Mondeo has set quite the bar for Hyundai to beat. The Mondeo is Top Gear’s Car of the Year and Hyundai has yet to convince Clarkson and the boys that their cars aren’t cheap and plasticky.

Honda might have said that it wouldn’t play vulture to Toyota’s huge f*ck up but we all know that they’re still Toyota’s biggest Japanese competitors.

Just check out the new Honda Civic Type R by Honda’s in-house tuner, Mugen. The car gets an interesting body kit to differentiate it from the base Type R.

Improvements are mostly on the the styling. The car boasts of new front and rear bumpers and a new set of 19-inch Lightning allows. Mugen badges are slapped on the car fro good measure.

The car still packs the same 2.0L i-VTEC engine that dishes out 198 bhp but the car gets a limited slip differential as standard to help it better deal with the corners. Additional tuning parts will come as options.

Mugen is surely going to have quite the time competing with Toyota’s new G-Sports line with Mugen’s renewed market visibility. Mugen will also be tuning the new CR-Z sports hybrid.

Oh m*^%#&$f*^(3r! Subaru, you’re doing it again. Your teaser photo run on the Subaru Impreza was one of the lousiest drumbanging effort we’ve seen. The long run of teasers of nothing but dimmed photo only to reveal a total minger will always be one of the worst tricks anyone could pull.

And here’s the first teaser shot of the upcoming Subaru Impreza STI Cosworth. And it’s nothing but a rear light shot with the STI Cosworth logo.

When we say “tease,” Subaru, it’s in the same sense as “striptease” not poking your tongue out or shouting Yo Momma jokes.

No facts were given by Subaru to accompany this teaser photo. Only that the car’s jointly developed by famed British firm Cosworth and Subaru UK and that it will be a better all-wheel-drive car for high performance motoring.

Not too much news are on pickups for quite some time now. (Aside from the Toyota Tundra being part of the recall.) Pickups are still pretty much a North American staple.

If you’re looking for a pickup from Japan, Honda announced that the Ridgeline pickup will be getting some upgrades for its 2011 model. Finally, after five years.

Honda needs to shake things up on their pickup as sales of the Ridgeline has declined over the last year. Competitors have been building pickup trucks that have pretty much trumped the Ridgeline’s appeal.

Only 16,464 units were sold last year, a drop of more than 50% from the previous year.

“The customers love the Ridgeline. It’s really a unique truck. It’s its own segment. But because it’s a niche vehicle, they’re really aren’t many people out looking for it. It’s also a bit older than we like.” Honda assistant vice president for product planning said.

Volkswagen’s SUV with a name most of us will mispronounce has just had a new incarnation. And this new one offers more power and more space but promises to be more efficient than the last one.

The UK-spec Touareg can avail of three different powertrains and four different trim levels. The engine lineup includes a 3.0L V6 turbodiesel engine dishing out 238 bhp and 405 lb-ft of torque which is mated to an eight-speed automatic and a 4.2L V8 TDI that dishes out 337 bhp and a 590 lb-ft of torque.

The third powertrain is a gasoline-electric hybrid that involves a 3.3L supercharged V6 dishing out 329 bhp and a 46 bhp electric motor. It’s the first time VW will be offering a hybrid-electric powertrain for the Touareg UK market. And it’s no pansy either, with its 0-62 mph in 6.5 seconds.

The new Touareg gets height-adjustable springs to take on a bit of off-roading. However, VW took out the low-ratio gearbox which is compensated for by the first ration in the eight-speed torque converter.

Nissan just launched a new crossover. With its radical design, Nissan hopes to get into the younger male market and currently sees no direct rival to the car just yet.

The is powered by a range-toping 1.6L turbocharged gasoline engine that churns out 187 bhp – quite a lot, actually, from a 1.6L. A less powerful naturally-aspirated 1.6L gasoline that dishes out 113 bhp is also available. So is a 1.4 diesel.

The 1.6L turbo is only available with a four-wheel drive system with a CVT transmission while the two other engines are for two-wheel drive systems with a six-speed manual.

The car’s longer and bigger than the a Nissan Micra and uses a lengthened version of the Renault Nissan Alliance B platform.

The Juke also comes with options like keyless entry and start, a rear-view cam and automatic headlights making it a not-too-shabby option for the B-segment it intends to contend with.

So Ferrari’s already working on a hybrid 599. They’ve also considered turbocharging (and I love their thrust to solve turbo lag). Now the company is looking into slapping on V6 engines to their cars.

Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa said “If I had to answer the question a year ago I would have said no, but attitudes are changing and we build cars for customers. In 20 years, who can say?”

While this really ins’t a confirmation that they will be slapping on V6s anytime soon, at least we know that it’s not going to be a real ideological issue. And about the electric issue, Felisa said, “We will not make engine sounds with speakers.” Bravo, Felisa.

Felisa also confirmed that in their pipeline are an open-topped 458 Italia and an Enzo replacement are both under way. I would love to see how they lop the top off the 458. It sure looks exquisite as a hard top. I hope it just translates well to an open top.

We can all just savor this photo rendering by Job Sibal.

Toyota’s recalls should now have been categorized as WTF! moments because Toyota’s sinking in a sea of crap right now. I’ve been a Toyota fan all my life and plan to get a Toyota as my next car. But after all of this, I’m considering other brands.

Toyota announced a worldwide recall of its hybrids that would involve 400,000 vehicles including the Prius, the Sai sedan and the Lexus HS250h.

The recall is due to brake problem. The brakes are said to go out when driving over a bump. This was identified as caused by the delay when switching from regenerative braking to conventional braking.

The other massive ongoing recall that involves 8 million vehicles is due to an accelerator pedal problem that causes the pedal to stick and cause unintended acceleration.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has publicly apologized for the string of issues that plagued his company just these couple of months.

I wish Subaru starts working on a new Impreza. That “new” one is ugly as hell. I’ve always picked the Impreza over the Evo but that latest styling really takes that love away.

Anyway, here’s a twist Subaru’s making with the Impreza – the new Impreza XV – which is basically an Impreza crossover. It’s basically a Euro version of the Outback Sport (pictured) model in th US.

The XV will be powered by a choice between a 2.0L gasoline or a 2.0L turbodiesel, both of which are Euro5-compliant.

The XV will only be available in Europe though there are no details yet on the exact places where this car will be sold. We’d know more about the car when it gets showcased in Geneva.

Let me say it again. Honda had a great chance to build a great sporty looking car with the Honda CR-Z that could’ve been viable for the mass market. Too bad they made it a hybrid. It’s basically a very good-looking Insight.

Glass half-full type of people would definitely say that Honda just made hybrids better with this car but Toyota’s got the G-Sports tuning accessories line and that doesn’t look too shabby.

Now here’s the Euro-spec version of the CR-Z that would be making its debut at the 2010 Geneva motor show. People living in areas with high congestion charges would probably like this. The 56.4 mpg’s still worse than many hot-hatch diesels but the 117 g/km of CO2 is not bad at all.

This hybrid coupé is based on the hardware of the Honda Insight petrol-electric saloon, so don’t get carried away with all this sports car chat. The two share the same 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine and IMA hybrid tech.

The Euro-spec car will get a three-mode drive system that tweaks steering, throttle response and electric boost through full performance, eco setting and normal modes.

The car will be available this summer.

When you got a bad year, you got a bad year. That seems pretty applicable to what Toyota is experiencing now. The company has already recalled a massive 8.1 million vehicles due to the sticking throttle pedal problem.

Now, it is now mulling another recall for its prized Toyota hybrid due to a brake problem. The problem is said to cause brake failure when vehicles encounter bumps on the road. Co-founder Steve Wozniak experienced the same thing in his Prius and suggested that it was a software glitch.

Toyota now claims that it is indeed a software glitch that’s causing the problem. 270,000 Priuses in both US and Japan markets are affected by this problem.

The Japanese giant, known in the industry for building tough and reliable cars, has suffered greatly from this round of recalls. Officials claim that the company is working hard to fix the problems and hopes to restore trust in the brand.

Source: The Detroit News

Estates still make much sense these days. I think they’re even more practical that most crossovers since, at least, estates don’t suffer from any identity crisis.

Here’s Seat with their new compact estate – the Seat Ibiza ST estate.

Powering the car is the a range of six engines consisting of 3 gasoline engines and 3 diesels with the 1.2 TDI and 1.2 TSI engines built new for the Ibiza range.

The car’s 18 cm longer than the regular Ibiza hatch creating 430 liters of cargo space – significantly more than the hatch’s 292 liters. The rear folding split seats would allow for more storage capacity when needed.

The car will be unveiled at the coming Geneva show and will be on sale this summer.

Looks like Ferrari has done a fine job developing their racer for this coming season. And with drivers like Massa and Alonso, they seem to be poised for another winning season.

Never mind if McLaren’s got two of the most recent world champions and that Schumacher’s back and driving for Mercedes. The Italians showed how strong they are after dominating the first test at Valencia.

Ferrari topped the pace board in all the days of the tests with Massa and Alonso both grabbing the quickest times in the days they hit the track. BMW-Sauber consistently placed second as well while Lewis Hamilton pipped third place on the day Schumacher wasn’t driving.

However, Alonso still advices caution stating that it’s still to early to base everything on their strong showing. Wise words but what Ferrari has showed out there should be enough to have some teams start figuring ways for them not to eat dust once the season starts.

So your car happens to be part of the recall and Toyota’s taking too long to fix your car. Paranoid that your pedal will get stuck (and you’ll die in an anecdote) but can’t leave your car at home?

Toyota’s already shopping the reinforcement parts to fix the throttle pedal issue but dealerships will only be able to start repairs by the weekend. So for the mean time, take caution if you need to take your Toyota out.

A Toyota certified technician informs CNN of a few simple steps to help you deal with a stuck pedal in your Toyota.

1. Shift the transmission to neutral
2. Turn off the ignition switch
3. Apply the brakes and pull over

Take note that the power steering also cuts off if the engine’s cut off so expect the steering to get heavy when you do so. If your car happens to have a starter button instead of keys, just press on the button for more than 3 seconds to cut the power.

Might not be the perfect stop-gap measure but it sure beats the heck out of dying in twisted metal.

Source: CNN

Saab fans should be ecstatic that their favorite brand didn’t just go flatline for eternity. With Spyker taking control of the brand, there’s a whole new future for Saab and we can all just hope they don’t mess things up.

Saab Spyker will be launching an all-new 9-3 in 2012 as part of its overall plan to recover. No word yet on the technical details of the new 9-3 but the announcement that a new one will be coming is a great sign of life for the brand.

The company will also look into offering a new entry-level 9-1. Other models to be offered in the future will be the 9-5X as an addition to the four-door saloon and estate models. The 9-4X will be squeezed into the lineup in early 2011.

Saab Spyker is intent on being “independent, performance-orientated niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy” and will compete with the likes of BMW and Audi.