Car news

Bentley Booklands coupe: the lowdown Bentley is going back to the future with this classic coupe. Called Brooklands, the two-door nods back to Bentley’s 1920s racing triumphs at the Surrey circuit.

Morgan Life Car: the lowdown Morgan, that most traditional of British brands, has announced it will launch a zero-emissions car called the Life Car at next year’s Geneva show. Based on the regular...

The Tesla Roadster. We’ve seen this before, but what is it again? Tesla is Silicon Valley start-up company pioneering this radical electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster. It’s entirely...

The Daihatsu Copen - a Suzuki Cappuccino for the 21st century? Britain's cheapest roadster has been given a massive engine boost, after Daihatsu chopped the 660cc engine in the Copen for a 1.3...

Aston Martin is today under new owners, following the sale of Britain’s premier sports car company to an investment consortium. After 20 years of ownership, Ford divested itself of the brand, its...

Cadillac BLS Wagon: the lowdown What does a fledgling brand like Cadillac do when it needs to expand its range in Europe? Simple. It nabs a compact exec estate from sister firm Saab, swaps the badge...

Smart ForTwo Brabus: the lowdown With a third more power than the outgoing Brabus, the new ForTwo looks set to be quite a pocket rocket. The newcomer, unveiled at Geneva, packs a punchy 98bhp and has...

Low key but not for long It’s not often a manufacturer unveils three new cars on its stand but Brilliance JinBei Automobile did just that. Not that you’d notice – sandwiched in between a number of...

Mercedes Vision C220 Bluetec: the lowdown Mercedes' bigger, better and cleaner new C-class hogged centre stage at the DaimlerChrysler stand. The C is the bedrock of Merc's range and the company rolled...

The supercharged XKR might have only recently pounced from the starting blocks, but Jaguar has already announced a special edition at Geneva - the XKR Portfolio. While mechanical specifications are...

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth: the lowdown Fiat is finally resurrecting the sporty Abarth badge for a Grande Punto hot hatch, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this week – and aimed squarely at beefed-up...

Not one, but two hardcore Lotuses? Tell me more... Lotus pulled the wraps off two adrenalin-fuelled racers – the racetrack-biased 2-Eleven and the hardcore Exige GT3 (above). Based on last year’s GT3...

What’s this, yet another crossover? Yes, what with the world going crossover crazy, Seat is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, unveiling the Altea Freetrack concept at Geneva – an important step as...

So, a brand new Nissan X-Trail. Or is it? It doesn’t look any different… Yes, it’s new – new body, new platform and some new engines. The only thing not different is the exterior style. Nissan is the...

French but sans le funky look A busy show stand for Renault – as well as unveiling its new Twingo city car, the French manufacturer pulled the wraps off a thinly disguised version of its upcoming Clio...

Looks good. But is it just some flight of fancy concept car with as much High Street relevance as one of Naomi Campbell’s more outrageous catwalk creations? Not at all. Believe it or not, the next...

Lighter, harder, faster - the Superleggera stuns Geneva If you think it looks good in these pictures, wait until you see it in the metal – from every angle, the Gallardo Superleggera looks phenomenal.

Audi A5 heralds new A4 Audi's new A5 coupe will form the basis for the new A4 due to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show this autumn. Expect to see the two-door's sleek look transferred to the...

Add Italian design, German power and Dutch craziness, and you get this One look at the Spyker C12 Zagato and you know why they call the Dutch crazy. This limited edition run of 24 cars was built to...

Lighter and smaller - now there's a change Mazda drew in the Geneva crowds with two key show cars – its sprightly new Mazda 2 supermini and the radical Hakaze crossover concept. In a world that’s...

207 estate joins hatch and CC line-up Peugeot calls it the 207 Outdoor Concept. We call it the 207 SW estate, and it arrives here in July, minus the glitzy showcar bits. Based on the 207 chassis, the...

Bigger, safer, better. That'll be the new V70 Volvo unveiled two key new models at Geneva – the V70 estate and its faux-by-four sibling, the XC70. Key cars because despite the growing popularity of...

A lighter, faster, more hardcore F430 is due this year, Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo hinted at the Geneva show. In 2005, Maranello unveiled the F430 Challenge, a racing version which competes in...

The world's first 80mpg sports coupe Green doesn’t have to mean dull and worthy – that Honda’s message behind its intriguing-looking Small Hybrid Sports Concept, star of its show stand and likely to...

Hold on, where’s the rally car? Subaru may have transformed its reputation from builder of dull-but-sturdy farmermobiles to maker of fast-and-furious racers with a little help from Burns and McRae,...

Another motor show, another demonic Dodge That’s about the sum of it. Dodge has unleashed a tirade a different concept cars at recent motor shows and Geneva was no different. The evil-named Demon...

So, one of the show’s biggest stars then? Absolutely. The world debut of the new Maserati GranTurismo was one of the show’s most eagerly awaited moments. The name goes back to Maserati’s road car...

BMW M3 Concept: the lowdown It's been scooped, spied and speculated about for months - but earlier today the covers finally slid off the new BMW M3... or the concept, at least. Yes, we'll have to wait...

BMW M3 Concept: the lowdown It's been scooped, spied and speculated about for months - but earlier today the covers finally slid off the new BMW M3... or the concept, at least. Yes, we'll have to wait...

Three new Minis shown at Geneva BMW unveiled several world-firsts at Geneva 2007: a Works kit for the new Mini, the entry-level One, and the new Mini Cooper D. The new Works option is an aftermarket...

I see Volvo hasn't given up on the halfway SUV idea Far from it. In fact Volvo UK watched sales of the old V70-based XC70 rise after the introduction of the full-blown XC90 off-roader. Apparently many...

Skoda looks to the Mini for Fabia body kit Expect to see some Mini-inspired styling cues on Skoda's new Fabia, taken from this concept car unveiled today at the Geneva show. Tucked in a corner...

The TVR saga has taken another twist. Young Russian millionaire Nikolai Smolenski has bought back the collapsed sports car maker and gone into business with two Americans. We've interviewed them...

4x4 drivers to pay more for insurance The biggest shake-up in Britain’s car insurance for 15 years is to take place – and 4x4 drivers are facing policy price hikes. That’s because for the first time a...

The trouble with Chrysler: the background In 1996 when Chrysler opened its $1.1bn headquarters in Auburn Hills, 30 miles north of Detroit, executives joked that if things didn’t work out, they could...

Lotus 2-Eleven? What's all that about? Colin Chapman always wanted performance through light weight, so he'd be justifiably proud of the new 2-Eleven track-day special, unveiled today and on sale in...