Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Kuga Individual
When we put the production Ford Kuga next to its progenitor, the Iosis X show car, on our test drive in Belgium, we couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The Kuga is a fine looking cute-ute, but lacks the aggressive styling that made the Iosis X such a show stopper. Ford promised to close the gap a little with the Individual version of the Kuga, launched here in Paris.
The Kuga joins Individual versions of the Ford Mondeo, Fiesta, S-Max and Galaxy, offering overseas buyers a host of luxury options you'd normally find on higher-end automobiles. The interior trim in particular goes a long way towards addressing some of the incoherence we mentioned in our review as well. Along with the leather and stuff, the Kuga Individual gets a revised exterior package that evokes some of the touches from the concept car, like aluminum intake fascias, 20" wheels and ground effects. The latter gives the Kuga a more road-skimming look as opposed to the Iosis X's jacked-up stature, but it's a nice touch all the same. The best part, however, could be the new engine option: the same Volvo-sourced turbo five from the hot Focus ST, albeit detuned to 200hp. Check out the photos in the gallery below to see the updated Kuga Individual from the Paris show floor.
Click either image to view the Ferrari California live in high resolution
It's not every day that Ferrari unveils a new sportscar. And when it does, it's almost invariably billed as a successor to the one that came before, or a version of something already on the market. But the Ferrari California is an entirely different beast, expanding the Prancing Horse's line-up into a new segment, and it certainly looks the part when viewed up close. We'll have to reserve our judgment for the time being on the California's driving dynamics, but the Italians promise it'll keep up its end and then some with its new direct-inject, 460-hp version of the company's 4.3L V8. In the meantime, today was a big day for Ferrari, and we've got the pictures to prove it. Click the thumbnails below to see for yourself.
It's about 6:00PM in the City of Lights and our rag tag team of bloggers is running on empty after having brought you the first day of debuts at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. Soon they'll be attending after parties and getting drunk on champagne, so we're here to run down the biggest unveilings of the day while you eat your brown bag lunch back in the States. Don't fret, though, as we'll be bringing you lots more from Paris throughout the afternoon and coverage of Day 2 will begin in the wee hours of tomorrow morning EST. (Photo by danorbit | CC2.0)
Click above image to enlarge the new Lamborghini teaser
Lamborghini continues the striptease of its mystery car's upcoming Paris debut. Is it a four-door ultrasedan, as speculated by Inside Line? Is it something more... super? Whatever it is, we'll all know on October 2. In the meantime, have a gander at some sleek fender and wheel action, complete with a side vent adorned with the Italian colors. The fender vent would seem to indicate a front-engined car, so we're liking the Inside Line take very much at the moment. Continue your rampant speculation in the comments.
If you find yourself in Paris at the auto show next month, you'll see the Mercedes-Benz ConceptFASCINATION on the floor. (It's so fascinating, it requires all caps, you see.) Chances are, the video embedded after the jump will be playing on a variety of screens behind it and around the Mercedes stand in general. It's your typical car show stuff: light electronica over moving pictures in which the car itself never moves. Still, the panning camera gives you a better view of some of the lines likely to be found on the next E-Class family. Just dim the lights a little and imagine the car surrounded by watchful Germans who are, in turn, surrounded by a number of people speaking French. See? We just saved you airfare to Paris. Thanks for the tip, Guy.
If you want an SUV that looks like what a really cool Saab 9-4 might potentially look like, but you want it to have a Mercedes model name and be from Korea, then you're looking for the Ssangyong C200. Known outside the U.S. for its 4-wheel drives like the Ssangyong Musso, which means "double dragon rhinoceros", the C200 is a four-wheel-drive, unibody CUV meant to grow Ssangyong's product range. It is packaged with a 2.0-liter engine and a 6-speed transmission, claimed to put out low emissions and be EURO V emissions-approved. Depending on how many horses they can squeeze out, it could be a nice little ride for Ssangyong money. That's all we know about it for the moment, but we'll bring you the full story when it's launched at the Paris Motor Show next month.
Click above to view high-res gallery of the Mercedes-Benz ConceptFASCINATION
When the doors open at the Paris Motor Show next month, Mercedes-Benz will be giving everyone a sneak peek of the new E-Class front-end styling. No, not in the form of the new E-Class itself, which will be unveiled at a later date, but in the ConceptFASCINATION, an attractive shooting brake concept based on the upcoming E-Class Coupe's architecture and featuring the new E's front-end styling.
Gone are the round headlamps we've become accustomed to. In their place are new "rhomboid" lamps that, on the show car at least, incorporate fiber-optic driving lights. The grille will likely be the same one seen on the new E Coupe, while we'd expect the sedan to have the traditional grille-and-hood-ornament combo instead. Power comes from Mercedes' new 2.2L, 204-horsepower BlueTEC (with AdBlue) 4-cylinder diesel, which will make its production debut this fall in the Euro-market C250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCYSuper Verbose Prime Edition sedan.
The ConceptFASCINATION's cargo area is covered in wood, and boasts such show-car goodies as a folding glass table that can be pulled rearward, a humidor, a chilled compartment (natch), and storage for binoculars and a camera. A pronounced rear fender arch lends some visual muscle to the whole affair. Hopefully, that's also a hint at what the inevitable E-Class wagon's rump is going to look like. As for the new front end, it's a lot better looking here than spy shots have led us to believe. We'll have much more next month from Paris. In the meantime, Mercedes' extensive press release is pasted after the jump. UPDATE:New high-res images added to gallery.
Click either image for a hi-res gallery of the Chevy Orlando
GM has announced that it will unveil the Chevy Orlando show car at the Paris Motor Show next month. The compact 7-seat crossover has a 105-inch wheelbase, rides on the same platform (Delta II) as the Chevy Cruze and gets turbodiesel power from a 2.0-liter four. The Orlando and the Chevy Tacuma prototype caught testing in disguise would appear to be one and the same, and as the Tacuma spy shots hinted, instead of a traditional vannish MPV appearance, the Orlando show car demonstrates that the production vehicle will follow the CUV pack and adopt tougher-looking SUV styling queues (Quien es mas macho? Orlando.) A substantial split grille dominates the front end, along with headlights that sweep back onto the front fender. Inside, an attractive cabin blends styling elements from a number of modern Chevys and Opels. We'll get the rest of the skinny and report back live from the Paris show next month.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Honda Insight Concept
Honda is reviving an old name for its new Global Hybrid that goes on sale next spring by calling it the Insight. The new five-door hatchback "Prius-Killer" will be the most direct competitor yet for Toyota's iconic hybrid. Learning from the lesson that hybrid buyers apparently prefer their cars to be recognizable as such rather than being derivatives of existing models, Honda has modeled the new Insight after its low volume FCX Clarity fuel cell car and will be debuting it as a concept at the Paris Motor Show next month before it goes on sale as the least expensive hybrid in the world in 2009. Recent comments by Honda have hinted at a price starting at $18,500 for the Insight, which goes on sale 10 years after the original. Unlike the tiny two-seater that had limited appeal and utility, this new one is expected to appeal to a much wider audience. Honda is planning for worldwide sales of 200,000 units a year with 100,000 going to the U.S. market.
After nearly three years of rumors and speculation, the new jacked-up MINI SAV will finally make its debut, according to Autocar. The Brit pub is reporting that the MINI 'ute is bound for Paris, with an on-sale date sometime in 2010 and sporting a five-door design.
Questions still remain about what platform the new all-wheel-drive model will be based on, with sources suggesting it will either be based around the Clubman's architecture, making use of a new upper-body structure, or the current Cooper's chassis, using the front end and employing a new floorpan to accommodate the AWD system and new seating positions. Regardless of what's underpinning the SAV, MINI has to justify the R&D, so if the biggie-sized MINI proves successful, there's a possibility that a front-wheel-drive variant will be offered on the same chassis, oxymoronically dubbed the MINI "Maxi."
Production is expected to begin late next year at Magna's factory in Graz, which currently produces the X3. And with BMW shifting production of its entry-level SUV to the U.S. sometime next year, MINI will have the manufacturing capacity to bring its sales over the 340,000 mark.
It's about 6:00PM in the City of Lights and our rag tag team of bloggers is running on empty after having brought you the first day of debuts at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. Soon they'll be attending after parties and getting drunk on champagne, so we're here to run down the biggest unveilings of the day while you eat your brown bag lunch back in the States. Don't fret, though, as we'll be bringing you lots more from Paris throughout the afternoon and coverage of Day 2 will begin in the wee hours of tomorrow morning EST. (Photo by 
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