We obsessively cover the auto industry…

Land Rover is acting like it has something very big up its sleeve. Its Discovery, known as the LR4 on our shores, is celebrating its 25th birthday, and at the Geneva Motor Show, LR announced that "Discovery will become a family of vehicles from 2015."

What exactly this means remains something of a mystery, but it likely is linked to the off-road brand's plan to separate its vehicles into three categories – Luxury for the Range Rover models, Dual Purpose for the Defender and Leisure for the LR4/Discovery and LR2/Freelander. It is priming the pump for the new models with a teaser video, a line drawing of its silhouette and a video celebrating the model's 25-year history. Scroll down to check them out.

While the next Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG has been rumored to get a new twin-turbocharged, 4.0-liter V8 with somewhere between 450 and 500 horsepower, the looks of the actual car have been a mystery – at least until now. Our spy shooters have caught Affalterbach's latest creation during cold-weather testing in Sweden, and it's surprisingly understated.

The front and rear are still under camouflage, but a few details can be made out. The front air dam has been significantly enlarged, presumably to feed cool air to those two reputed turbos. At the rear, you can glimpse the quad exhaust outlets integrated into the diffuser. The trunk also appears to be hiding a tiny lip spoiler. The ride height also seems somewhat lower than stock, as would be expected for an AMG model. Otherwise, there aren't many changes on the outside – at least not yet.

There are still some lingering questions about the Mercedes' upcoming model. For example, we don't know if the C63 name is staying or if the smaller engine will force a change. The sport sedan is expected to be revealed by the early portion of 2015, but its official debut date and location remains unknown.

When you see a golden bowtie, you know you're looking at a Chevrolet. And that's completely by design. First introduced way back in 1913, the famed Bowtie has gone through several permutations, but it's never quite been modified like it has for the new Chevy Camaro Z/28. Instead of a solid bow, as we've become accustomed to seeing, the Z/28's Bowtie is hollow.

According to Chevy's press release, which can be found below, Powertrain Cooling Development engineer Richard Quinn noticed during wind-tunnel testing that the Z/28's Bowtie-emblazoned grille was pushing air away instead of allowing it to hit the radiator. The solution was to cut out the center of the emblem, leaving a chrome outline that lets air through.

GM's engineers have named the new Bowtie-shaped emblem the Flowtie. Clever, boys. An additional three cubic meters of air is let into the engine bay per minute, lowering coolant and oil temperatures by 2°F. Scroll down below for more information from Chevy about its so-called Flowtie and to watch a video.

As a car culture, we throw the word "iconic" too much, but if there's anything it has ever applied to – when it comes to racing liveries especially – surely it's the legendary stripes of Martini Racing. The Italian vermouth brand has sponsored everything from Porsche endurance racers to Lancia rally cars. It's followed Ford into the WRC and Alfa Romeo into DTM. It's even sponsored offshore racing powerboats. But when it comes to Formula One, it's come and gone over the years.

Martini Racing started out sponsoring the unsuccessful Italian squad Tecno in 1972, then switched to the World-Champion Brabham racing team run by Bernie Ecclestone. It sponsored Lotus in 1979, then disappeared from the scene for decades until its logo showed up on the Ferrari 248 F1 in 2006, only to vanish again into the history books. But now it's back.

As promised, Martini has penned a new deal with the Williams F1 team to see its stripes adorn the Mercedes-powered FW36 which Felipe Massa and Finnish newcomer Valtteri Bottas will be driving in the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship. The rechristened Williams Martini Racing has just revealed its car in full race livery – complete with those red, navy and light blue stripes draped over white bodywork – ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that will open the season in Melbourne next weekend.

The partnership gives Williams the best-looking livery and highest-profile sponsor since Rothmans in the 1990s, and gives us one more reason to pull for the plucky underdogs that have been outshining the frontrunners in pre-season testing.

We could be in for a big push from Nissan in the manufacturing realm if Vice President of US Sales and Marketing Fred Diaz has anything to say about it. Speaking to the Automotive Press Association recently, Diaz (above) expressed a desire to build some 85 percent of the vehicles Nissan sells to Americans in the US, claiming it will happen "in the very near future." Nissan has already moved to increase exports of its US-built products, and in 2013, it built just over 76 percent of the models it sold in this market within our country's borders.

"Any issues of us taking advantage of the value of the yen, we want to dispel that," Diaz told reporters, pointing out the contentious issue of currency manipulation. There's also the obvious goal of positive PR - Americans like things made in America, and they like companies that invest in America. Diaz is quick to point out that Nissan had done just that: "While a lot of people retrenched [during the recession], instead we leaned into it and we continued investing and in fact made over $5 billion in investments, bringing a lot of production from Japan to the United States and to Mexico," Diaz said, pointing out that Nissan has helped create 8,000 jobs through its investments.

Nissan runs three factories in the US, two in Tennessee and one in Mississippi. Between the three, production is up 22 percent, while the overall exports from the facilities have increased by 100,000 units, Diaz told reporters.

Still, there's reason to believe that Nissan's goal of sourcing 85 percent of the cars it sells in the US from the US is going to be tough to attain, according to The Detroit News. "We see them forecast for 1.15 million in 2014, which is slightly up from 2013. But we see them flat throughout the rest of the decade," Stephanie Brinley of IHS Automotive told the newspaper. "Compared to some of the other companies, there's not as many new additive products coming."

We often talk about companies like Ford and Mercedes-Benz that have their automotive roots over 100 years in the past, but those aren't the only old-timers in the industry. One of the oldest had been American LaFrance, a company that had been building firefighting vehicles for over 180 years. Notice that we said 'had been...'

The company's roots go back to 1832 as a firefighting equipment maker. It began building steam-powered, horse-drawn fire engines in the era before the internal combustion engine and merged with LaFrance in 1903 to become one of America's leading fire engine builders. Unfortunately, the 21st century was not been so kind to the company. Freightliner bought it in 1995 and production was moved from North Carolina to South Carolina, but it was sold again in December 2005. After declaring and emerging from bankruptcy in 2008, American LaFrance moved to a smaller factory in Moncks Corner, SC, in 2013.

American LaFrance's previous owner, Patriarch Partners, issued a statement to South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier that said: "Unfortunately, the company's unexpected current financial condition requires the discontinuation of operations in these locations at this time and these facilities are not expected to reopen." Autoblog attempted to call American LaFrance for comment, but its listed phone number no longer works. It seems that the brand's flame has finally been extinguished.

With just under 80 debuts rounding out our coverage of the Geneva Motor Show, it's fair to say that we are spent. It's been a busy couple of days, and once again, the Swiss expo proved to be a great venue for hot, new debuts from global automakers.

We've got our full roundup of coverage posted below, so have a look back, just in case there's anything you might have missed. Stay tuned for our usual Editors' Choice picks, as well.

Can destroying a car be art? That question comes a bit too late for the Maserati Quattroporte seen above. The act depicted is from the music video for Adentro by Puerto Rican hip-hop act Calle 13 new single.

While the video is not yet online, the making-of featurette is available below and shows the luxury sedan getting beat with a baseball bat (and more) by the group's frontman René Pérez. According to Latin Gossip, Pérez wants to send his fans a message not to place too high a value in material objects. The Maserati represents a time in his life of too much excess, it seems...

The guy might have an argument, but it still seems pretty wasteful to destroy a perfectly good Italian sports sedan. We will be curious to see how far the destruction goes, but you can get a peak at it in the video below.

The Peugeot 308 SW may not exactly stand out against the backdrop of tuner specials and concept cars here at the Geneva Motor Show, but with the action winding down we can already say that it is one of the most relevant for European buyers.

Peugeot's 308 was just named European Car of the Year earlier this week, so it appears that the French brand is doing more than a little bit right with the model. The 308 SW, meanwhile, presents a small estate version of the formula, offering the kind of reasonable economy, flexible space and relatively inexpensive price point that Euro buyers seem to find so attractive.

As we reported last month, the 308 SW drops some 308 pounds (140 kilograms) versus the outgoing version, and can be had with efficient gas- and diesel-powered engines. The 1.2-liter engine is good for about 129 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque, while the larger 1.6 brings with it 154 hp and 177 lb-ft. Six-speed manual transmissions are on offer across the board (we don't see any mention of an automatic in Peugeot's rather terse press materials below).

Opel's Meriva hatchback has received a slight refresh at the Geneva Motor Show with new styling and two tunes of a new 1.6-liter diesel engine. Its tech gets a slight upgrade as well with better smartphone integration for the infotainment system.

The Meriva still features its suicide opening doors that Opel claims makes ingress and egress from the rear easier. The refresh also gives the hatchback a grille with more chrome, slightly altered headlights, LED running lights and chrome trim along the bottom of the side windows.

The biggest changes for the Meriva are mechanical. Opel has added its new 1.6-liter CDTI diesel available with either 134 horsepower or 109 hp. The less powerful version emits 99 grams of CO2 per 100 kilometers, which allows it to take advantage of lower taxes in much of Europe. The model's five- and six-speed manuals have also been improved with a low friction material to make shifting easier.

Like many of the cars from Geneva, the Meriva is another vehicle that won't be sold here. Naturally, you can see and read all about this slightly less-desirable forbidden fruit, below.

One of the common defenses of the Chevrolet Corvette when it's compared against its European and Japanese competitors is that the price makes the 'Vette a bargain for its neck-snapping performance. That equation is changing, slightly. While it still undercuts many rivals, Chevrolet is raising the cost of its halo model due to high demand.

Prices for the 2014 Corvette have risen by $2,000 for both the coupe and convertible. The Z51 package is now a $4,000 option, an increase of $1,200. With the $995 destination charge, a base Corvette Stingray now runs buyers $53,995, and the drop top is now $58,995. The new pricing went into effect on March 1, but buyers who already have orders in place are not affected. According to Corvette Blogger, some dealers are also not marking up cars built before March that are on their lots.

"The reason for the increase is simply that customer demand for the Stingray, and especially the Z51 package, have exceeded our initial expectations. As such we wanted adjust pricing in line with demand," said Monte Doran, Chevy's PR specialist for the Corvette and Camaro.

It's great for the company that demand is so high, but it is too bad for customers that a higher price is being passed on to them. Still, if you are already in the market for a 'Vette and want a deal, find a dealer with a few left on the lot.

General Motors' problems with its recall of roughly 1.6-million vehicles continue to mount. Now that it has emerged that GM knew about the problem since at least 2004 but waited to recall vehicles until February 2014, regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have begun a much deeper investigation. NHTSA has sent a 27-page survey to GM that includes 107 questions about the timeline of what led up to the recall, and it has until April 3 to reply.

This isn't a simple, multiple-choice test. Automotive News believes that hundreds of pages could be required to answer some of the queries. NHTSA says that it is still investigating GM's response to the recall. "We are a data-driven organization, and we will take whatever action is appropriate based on where our findings lead us," said NHTSA in a statement on its website. If found liable, the automaker could face a fine as high as $35 million and even possible criminal charges, according to Bloomberg.

NHTSA's questions include a detailed explanation of GM's examination process; how it will improve the process; why a planned redesign of the cars' key in 2005 wasn't implemented; and specific data on each complaint it received. According to Bloomberg, NHTSA also has records that show the company had a meeting with regulators to discuss the airbag failure in a Chevrolet Cobalt in 2007.

New GM CEO Mary Barra has also hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation about what happened. It will include questioning company employees who were involved with the process from the start. The recall stems from faulty ignition switches that shut off the car while driving, and if it occurs the airbags deactivate. Thirteen deaths and 23 crashes have been caused by the problem, according to Bloomberg. If you would like to peruse NHTSA's entire questionnaire for GM, it can be viewed here.

We are used to seeing full vehicles being unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, or at least concepts that presage a future model, but the German engineering group EDAG stripped things down even further to imagine a future car cockpit. Really, it's a way for the company to show off its next-generation manufacturing technology that allows it to make parts in a single production process.

The company says that a turtle's skeleton inspired the cockpit's design (which is a bit morbid), and that it features a protective shell on the outside to support the fragile parts inside. It's made using a technique called fused deposition modeling, which is similar to the process used in 3D printing but on a much bigger scale. In the case of the Genesis, robots laid down layer after layer of thermoplastic to produce the complex shape. EDAG says that it could also be done with carbon fiber as well to offer strength and lightness.

The company admits that this technology is still in its infancy, and we are still far away from large-scale industrial production of components like this. However, it is technically possible. It believes that fused deposition modeling could revolutionize the auto industry by allowing new, stronger designs. The Genesis isn't a car today, but it previews how they may be built tomorrow. Have a slightly more dynamic look at the concept in the video, below.

If you haven't taken the plunge into next-generation console racing yet, we can't recommend it highly enough. We were all but totally smitten when we got our first chance to play and review Forza Motorsport 5 this past fall, and still see the title as the crown jewel of the current lineup of Xbox One games. (Though admittedly we're biased about, you know, car games.)

Good news then, if you've been holding off on pulling the trigger until now: Forza and Xbox are offering a bundle. Starting on March 10 and running for a limited time, you can pick up an Xbox One for the retail price ($500), and get Forza 5 thrown in, normally $60 retail, gratis.

While the original source for the news is a bit shy in terms of detail, we reached out to Xbox for some further, more granular information on the deal. We can report that the bundle includes all the normal components that ship with XB1: Kinect sensor, one wireless controller and a headset. There won't be a physical disc for Forza in the box, but there will be a token for a digital download of the complete title. The file is about 34.32 GB, for what it's worth.

The Xbox team also indicated that the Forza bundle is a limited time, limited availability deal, and does not indicate a price reduction for the Xbox One hardware. We couldn't pin down a list of participating retailers, sadly, with our contacts saying that shoppers should confirm availability with their local retailers. Phone calls to a few big outlets in our area (Game Stop, Best Buy and Toys "R" Us) revealed the SKUs for the bundle are not in systems as yet, but we imagine we might be just ahead of the marketing push on this one. Game on.