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2014 Skoda Octavia vRS to debut at 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

The new Skoda Octavia vRS will debut at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July and is expected to offer petrol and diesel options. We had the reveal of the new Skoda Octavia back in December, and the Octavia Estate got its reveal in February. So all that’s missing is the performance end of the new Octavia range – the 2014 Skoda Octavia vRS.

MINI Paceman: Price from £18,970

The MINI Paceman – the MINI Countryman Coupe – will be available in the UK from £18,970 with a choice of petrol or diesel engines, FWD or 4WD. After a debut in production guise at last year’s Paris Motor Show, the MINI Paceman is now hitting the Uk with a choice of petrol or diesel engines, manual or auto gearbox and front wheel drive or four wheel drive. Petrol engine choices for the Paceman are the 1.6 litre Cooper Paceman with 122bhp, 0-62mph in 10.4 seconds and 47.1mpg and the Cooper S Paceman with the same 1.6 litre but with 184bhp, 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds and 46.3mpg. There’s also the 218bhp MINI John Cooper Works Paceman that can hit 62mph in a pretty swift 6.9 seconds.

Icona reveals first render of Vulcano super sportscar

Icona will unveil a one-off super sports car dubbed Vulcano at next month's Shanghai auto show. The Vulcano was coachbuilt in Italy and was designed by the Shanghai-based Italian design house to show an evolution of its design language, first seen on the 2011 Icona Fuselage concept designed by Samuel Chuffart, Icona's design director. Icona says the design aims express the power within the hood while keeping the shapes harmonious.

Corvette Stingray price? How about $71,860

If you're counting pennies to buy a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, your target price is $71,860. How do we know? Always read the fine print.

GM recalls 2013 Cadillac SRX, Buick LaCrosse for software fix

General Motors is recalling about 26,500 copies of the 2013 Buick LaCrosse sedan and Cadillac SRX crossover for a software problem that could cause the automatic transmission to shift out of manual mode. The affected vehicles are equipped with the Driver Shift Control feature, which allows the driver to shift the automatic transmission similar to a manual transmission. GM said in a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the software problem may cause the transmission to shift unexpectedly from manual mode back to the automatic transmission, which removes any transmission-related engine braking.

Jeep and Mopar reveal six concepts for Moab Easter Jeep Safari

Jeep revealed six new concepts for the 2013 Moab Easter Jeep Safari on Wednesday. Both the Grand Cherokee and the Wrangler are represented in beefed-up, concept form. Jeep teased two of the concepts on Tuesday.

Royal College of Art's Class of 2013 launches real-time projects blog

The Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design Class of 2013 has launched a new blog that will allow the public to follow their projects and studio work from ideas to exhibition for the first time in the course's 40-year history. The blog, which is updated daily, allows people to follow the process of the 18 MA students' final projects and college work in real-time and give them a ‘behind the scenes' look at their progress. RCA student Ewan Gallimore, speaking on behalf of the class, tells Car Design News, "So much of the work and process is unseen and by regularly updating this blog we give the chance for people to follow and interact with the run up to our show.

Detroit Electric reboots for Shanghai auto show

The Detroit Electric name is being revived in the Motor City. The company says it will reveal its first electric sports car -- based on the Lotus Elise -- at the Shanghai Motor Show in April, and begin selling in limited markets by August. That's a lofty goal for a company that just hit our radar on Tuesday morning.

2013 Audi RS 5 convertible pricing announced

The convertible version of the Audi RS 5 arrives at U.S. dealers in April -- just in time for the warm weather -- and will carry a sticker price of $78,795 including shipping charges. RS 5 fans who have been waiting for a convertible option will also appreciate the lack of a gas-guzzler tax on this top performer.

Lexus to make its official Goodwood Festival of Speed debut in 2013

Lexus is to officially be a part of the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed and will show the 2013 Lexus LS, new GS and the LFA supercar. Lexus is working hard at the moment to make their cars more dynamic and more appealing to drivers – not just those looking for reliable, Japanese luxury, so what better way to get in front of those who cherish the ‘Drive’ than at Goodwood? So Lexus is tipping up at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July to be an official part of the best petrolhead festival – in the world – and take the opportunity to show their latest models, and a bit of Lexus supercar goodness too.

Bentley SUV (Falcon) to be built in Slovakia?

Bentley says it has 2000 pre-orders for the Bentley Falcon SUV and that it is possible the Bentley won’t be built in Crewe but in Bratislava. January’s news was that the Bentley SUV was close to being signed-off for production (we’ve heard that once or twice) and in February we learnt that Bentley have gone back to the drawing board to produce a new design under the watchful eye of Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley’s Chief Designer, which we expect to be a more dynamic one with cues from the Continental, rather than a square truck with Mulsanne headlights. So now it’s time for the March instalment of ‘Bentley SUV News‘, and we have Bentley boss Wolfgang Schreiber telling us that Bentley already has 2,000 pre-orders for their SUV (we’re guessing ‘expressions of interest’ may be closer to the truth) before the new design is shown, and before Bentley has decided whether they want to pitch their SUV just above the new Range Rover at around £150k, or do what Bentley dealers want which is a Bentley SUV costing north of £200k.

Jaguar XJR returns – 542bhp XJ to debut at New York Auto Show

A new generation Jaguar XJR is being launched at the New York Auto Show later this month, signalling the return of the range-topping XJ with 542bhp. We’ve been heralding the arrival of an all new Jaguar XJR for four years and now, finally  Jaguar is about to deliver with a new XJR sporting Jaguar’s 542bhp version of the supercharged V8 under the bonnet. Jaguar are being a bit precious with the full details of the new XJR, but they’re calling the new XJR the ‘Dynamic Flagship‘ of the Jaguar range – which is promising when you consider how fluid and able the XJ already is.

New Mitsubishi Mirage: Price from £8,999

The new Mitsubishi Mirage City Car – which replaces the Colt in Mitsubishi’s lineup – will cost from £8,999 in the UK for the Mirage 1.0L. Replacing the Colt in Mitsubishi’s lineup, the new Mirage offers a compact and economical option for buyers with a choice of two engines – 1.0 litre and 1.2 litre 3-cylinder – and three spec levels – Mirage, Mirage 2 and Mirage 3. Aimed to take a piece of the market the VW Group is gobbling up with the Up!

Renault to preview future design strategy with Ross Lovegrove

Renault will unveil a new concept car that will underline its future design direction at next month's Triennale of Milan. The carmaker, which has released a set of teaser images, has worked alongside designer Ross Lovegrove's Lovegrove Studio to explore fresh design languages. Lovegrove is known for his organically inspired designs and this concept will continue that theme, examining nature and its systems to raise "awareness and understanding of those phenomena and their current impact".

Jaguar F-Type CRASH!

The new Jaguar F-Type hasn’t hit the road yet – in fact very few outside Jaguar have been behind the wheel – but one has already crashed. The new Jaguar F-Type hasn’t started to hit Jaguar showrooms yet, and very few have been driven by anyone outside Jaguar. Jaguar have been letting a few ‘names’ loose in the F-Type for a bit of PR, like Le Mans driver Andy Wallace and Martin Brundle, but most of the ‘press’ play with the F-Type has been in the passenger seat.

Mercedes CLA: Price from £24,355

The new Mercedes CLA – the swoopy coupe based on the new A Class – will cost from £24,355 in the UK with a choice of Sport or AMG Sport trim. Mercedes gave a quick flash of their cool new A Class Coupe and then whipped it off to the Berlin Fashion Week for a proper debut, clearly showing that Mercedes think the new CLA a style statement as much as a car. And now, if you want to make a style statement with the good looking CLA (a car Mercedes call ‘Cool’) you can, with the CLA now on sale in the UK.

Video: BMW instructor attempts to break world drifting record

The Guinness Book of World Records has the longest drift set at an amazing 19,035 feet, or about 3.5 miles. It was set in China in 2011. On May 11 Johan Schwartz, BMW Performance Driving instructor working in Greer, S.C., aims to bring the record back to the United States.

Jeep teases new concepts for Moab Easter Safari

The Easter Jeep Safari begins March 23 and runs for eight days in Moab, Utah. As it has in the past, Jeep will bring a few new concept four-wheelers for the event. Jeep on Tuesday revealed teaser sketches of the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk II and Wrangler Slim.

Mercedes CLA 45 AMG arrives early

Ahead of a reveal at the New York Auto Show, the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG – the AMG version of the new CLA – has arrived with a raft of photos. Looking just asn you’d expect – the new Mercedes CLA with the AMG bits from its hatchback sibling, the A 45 AMG – the CLA gets a diamond grill with double chrome bar and big 3-pointed star, front splitter. butch bumpers, black door mirrors, boot spoiler and carbon fibre trim and no doubt the option of the AMG Performance Pack.

Mercedes GLA (new A-Class SUV) caught on video

The SUV version of the new A-Class – the Mercedes GLA – has been caught on video winter testing ahead of a likely debut at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. The new Mercedes A-Class is now out in the wild, and this morning we had news of UK pricing for the new Mercedes CLA – the ‘Coupe’ A-Class – and now we have news of the next instalment of Mercedes’ A-Class adventure – the Mercedes GLA. We had video back in December of the new Mercedes GLA, but this time the GLA is out playing in winter climes as it gets close to its first reveal.

Lyonheart K Jaguar E-Type: Price from €360,000

The Lyonheart K – a recreation of the Jaguar E-Type – will cost from €360k for the Coupe and €375k for the Convertible (pus vat). For your €360k plus VAT (roughly £366k inc vat) you get all the beauty of an E-Type but with modern underpinnings including the heart of a Jaguar XK and its 5.0 litre supercharged V8 with Cosworth tweaks to deliver 575PS offering a very non-E-Type 0-62mph of under 4 seconds. Fifty per cent of Lyonheart K production is staying in Europe, 20 per cent is off to the Middle East and 30 per cent to China, with a total of just 250 cars being built, starting in December 2013 and ending in the summer of 2015.

Pininfarina could produce Sergio concept

Pininfarina may produce a few examples of the Sergio concept we saw at the Geneva motor show for a few well-heeled buyers with about $3.9 million in liquid assets. “We are considering a very limited run of five to six units," Pininfarina CEO Silvio Angori told Automotive News Europe. The Sergio is based on the Ferrari 458 Italia, and uses the same drivetrain including the 562-hp V8 and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

2014 Chrysler 200 gets a short run

Chrysler Group will cut short the Chrysler 200 sedan's 2014 model year to launch a redesigned version in January. Internal Chrysler documents indicate that the 2014 Chrysler 200 will start production in July at Chrysler's Sterling Heights plant in suburban Detroit and end in the second week of January. Normally, production of the 2014 model would run well into 2014.

Fangio's Mercedes-Benz W196 up for auction at Goodwood

It's the father of the venerated 300 SLR. It was driven by Juan Manuel Fangio, Hans Hermann and Sir Stirling Moss. The open-wheel body was commissioned by El Chueco himself when the streamlined unit designed for fast tracks proved too tricky to place on twistier circuits.

2014 Range Rover Sport video tease: Take 2

Five days on from the last video tease and a week from the New York Live reveal, the 2014 Range Rover Sport gets teased again on video. We did half expect another tease for the 2014 Range Rover Sport before now, especially after the first video tease for Land Rover’s latest Sport Rangie came just two days after LR started the tease. But in the meantime – just after the first video tease for the new RRS – we had proper leaked photos of the new Range Rover Sport taken at a window tinters in New York as the brand new Range Rover Sport got prepared for its New York outing.

Fifth Gear Tonight: Skoda Fabia vRS, BMW M6, DIY Servicing & best small cars

Fifth Gear tonight sees Vicki in the Skoda Fabia vRS, Tiff testing best small cars, Jason with the BMW M6 and Jonny on DIY car servicing. With no Top Gear on TV now the latest series has ended (well, apart from the ‘Best of’ Sky+ insists on recording) it’s Fifth Gear for your TV petrolhead fix, with tonight’s episode – episode 6 – offering old-fashioned consumer advice as well as a bit of blasting and blatting in something interesting. Vicki Butler-Henderson is off for a performance motoring triathlon in the company of Norwegian rally star Andreas Mikkelsen, with fun in a pair of single-seat race cars, a race against the clock in a 200bhp off-road buggy and a proper play and test of the appealing Skoda Fabia vRS (you can see a clip of the Fabia vRS test in the video below).

Hyundai ix35 FCEV: The go-to hydrogen fuel cell car

The Hyundai ix35 FCEV has been chosen for the second year running as the FCEV of choice for the European Commission-backed Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). As we’ve reported previously, the Hyundai ix35 FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle) is the first proper production FCEV in the world, although the roll-out of Hyundai’s hydrogen-powered car isn’t exactly on a huge scale, at least not for the next couple of years. But as governments (perhaps) start to wake up to the fact that the BEV car is a road to nowhere  - or nowhere far, at least, with its limited range and the current state of battery technology – they are starting to see hydrogen-powered vehicles as a realistic future for a world that doesn’t have to rely on fossil fuels for transport.

Video: Rolls-Royce Wraith design process revealed

Rolls-Royce has released a video exploring the design process behind its Wraith fastback, revealed earlier this month at the Geneva motor show. The video is one of a series that look at the Wraith's development process, focusing on the design and performance of the Wraith. Key figures behind its development such director of design Giles Taylor and head of interior design Ian Sheppard feature, explaining how the Wraith evolved the way it did and how the design teams made their decisions.

VW builds case for large SUV for U.S. market

Volkswagen is building the business case for a large SUV in the United States. The vehicle is a key to the company's plan to nearly double the VW brand's U.S. sales to 800,000 units by 2018.

Mercedes-Benz reveals new S-class interior

Mercedes-Benz has revealed the interior for its next-generation S-class in a series of darkly lit photographs aimed at emphasizing the car's ambience. While appearing similar to current models in a number of key areas, the cabin of the flagship Mercedes-Benz sedan has been redesigned in a bid to provide it with added levels of luxury, comfort, space and new multimedia functions. Key among developments is a new dashboard with horizontal architecture and ambient lighting to accentuate its width.