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2013 VW Golf MK 7: Official

Ahead of its public debut at the Paris Motor Show we have the first official photos of the 2013 Volkswagen Golf arrive. The new VW Golf – the MK 7 – was revealed today in Berlin and we’ve got the first official photos ahead of VW’s official release. Looking more sophisticated than the current Golf, the new Golf is underpinned by VW’s MQB Platform – which also underpins the new Audi A3 and SEAT Leon – and comes in at up to 100kg less than the current Golf.

2013 Ford Mondeo debuts on Thursday – but is it time for a name change?

Ford will reveal the new Mondeo on Thursday at the ‘Go Further’ event in Amsterdam as well as news of major product acceleration. We saw the first photo of the new Ford Mondeo back in January, shortly after Ford revealed its North American sibling – the Ford Fusion – at the Detroit Motor Show. At that time, especially as the Fusion had already been properly revealed, we assumed the new Mondeo would debut at Geneva in the Spring, but it didn’t.

Peugeot 208 XY heading for production

It’s been revealed that the luxury concept of the new Peugeot 208 – the 208 XY – will be at the Paris Motor Show in production guise. At this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Peugeot revealed a pair of concept cars based on the new 208 – the 208 GTi and the 208 XY. Yesterday we revealed that the new Peugeot 208 GTi was heading for this month’s Paris Motor Show ready for production, and now it seems it will be joined by its luxury sibling concept, also ready to go in to production – the Peugeot 208 XY.

NEVS completes Saab purchase

National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS) has completed the purchase of the assets of Saab, but can’t use the Griffin logo. It looks like the Chinese, Japanese, Swedish Consortium NEVS has finally completed the process of acquiring the assets of bankrupt Saab, but it hasn’t quite got all it wanted. We reported last week that the process of acquiring Saab had been delayed as there were still issues over the rights to the Saab log, a logo owned by Scania and Saab Aerospace.

Ford Focus (2012) - the best-selling car in the world

Ford's Focus has overtaken the Toyota Corolla in the sales charts. Unremarkable, you might say? Not when you realise this is the global sales mantle, making the Focus the best-selling car name on the planet in the first half of the year.

Mercedes 'Aesthetics S' sculpture (2012) previews S-class

Mercedes is previewing its next 2013 S-class flagship, but not with a concept car or series of shadowy teaser shots. No, Merc has instead opted to create a sculpture showing the profile of the next S-class. It's titled 'Aesthetics S', and together with its 'exciting projection display', it'll be shown at the 2012 Paris motor show later this month.

VW Golf (2013) first official pictures of Mk7 Golf

This is the new, seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf. Although very similar-looking to the outgoing car, the new Golf Mk7 is bigger, lighter, easier to produce and much more efficient. It sounds like a win-win for VW and consumers.

Camouflaged Cadillac ELR spotted on the road

Autoweek reader Josh Lindquist recently snapped these photos of what may be a camouflaged Cadillac ELR cruising around metropolitan Detroit. While the photos don't show the car from every angle, its lines are strikingly similar to those on the ELR featured on Cadillac's official Web site. The ELR first appeared as the Cadillac Converj concept in 2009.

Nissan Sentra [w/Gallery]

Nissan has unveiled its all-new 2013 Sentra, the third of five new vehicles being introduced in a 15-month period. The new Sentra – which measures in at 4,625mm long, 1,760mm wide and 1,496mm high – is 68kg lighter than its predecessor while still having larger overall dimensions and a more spacious interior. Sitting on a wheelbase of 2,700mm, the Sentra adopts the automaker's new signature trapezoid-shaped grille and large wraparound headlights with LED accents.

Jalopnik and Drive host 'Livesketching with J Mays'

Ford's Chief Creative Officer, J. Mays is the subject of a 'Livesketching' interactive video, co-hosted by Drive on YouTube and Jalopnik. The Q&A, presented by designer Jason Torchinsky (himself no slouch with a Sharpie and a flip chart), gave the rare opportunity to quiz the creator of the Audi Avus concept, modern VW Beetle and Mustang and one of the major influencers behind Ford's design strategy.

Ford Focus ST: The Sweeney Premiere

With the Focus ST about to hit the road, Ford’s new hot Focus is front and centre in the premier of The Sweeney movie tonight. For readers past the first flush of youth, the cars of Ford and The Sweeney are inextricably linked in memory. From the Consul GT to the MK III Cortina and the later Granada 2.8 S, Ford and Sweeney are synonymous.

Hyundai to give away a free cow with every new car

It looks like Hyundai are planning to give new car buyers a free cow to save the Sunday Roast from rising fuel costs. It looks like Hyundai’s clever PR bods have found a way to boost car sales in the same way as Scrappage did, by planning to save the Sunday Roast from the inexorable rise of fuel costs. They’ve commissioned a survey to find out what motorists are having to give up as fuel costs rise, and have decided the worst thing is missing out on Sunday’s Roast Dinner.

BMW 114d arrives & new engines for the BMW 3 Series

BMW has revealed the 114d Sports hatch and new engines for the 3 Series and 3 Series Touring. New BMW Nav Pro also added to 3 Series. BMW has been having a play with the 1 Series and 3 Series with new engine options available from November.

Peugeot 208 GTi: Official

Peugeot has reviewed the 208 GTi Concept from Geneva 2012 and turned it in to the production GTi. Debuts at Paris. On sale early 2013.

Peugeot 208 GTI (2012) first official pictures

You might well be fed up with Peugeot's recent hot hatch efforts being compared in vain to the iconic 205 GTI, but Peugeot is so confident they've got it right at last with the 208, they're likening it to the iconic Eighties pocket rocket. Kicking out 197bhp, the 208 GTI is also usefully lighter than its 207 predecessor, helping acceleration and efficiency stats... Alright then, give me the numbers on the 2012 Peugeot 208 GTI For the first time in quite a while, it's the weight (or lack thereof) that's the headline number on a new hot hatch, rather than a big power figure.

Belgian Grand Prix (2012) RESULT

With a resurgent Jenson Button on pole for the Belgian Grand Prix, will Spa see McLaren back in charge? Jenson Button and his McLaren were in perfect harmony in qualifying for the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa with button claiming his first pole for McLaren, and his first in three years. That promise looked good as Button left the line cleanly ahead of the pack, but then behind him there was carnage as Grosjean in the Lotus moved across straight in to the side of Hamilton, also taking out Alonso, Kobayashi and Perez, and forcing a restart to the race.

Ferrari 458 Spider by Kahn Design

Kahn design has revealed a Ferrari 458 Spider they’ve ‘customised’, although we’re struggling to see what they’ve done. It’s hard to criticise the PR efforts of A. Kahn Design – Bradford’s finest car customisers – with new cars being revealed all the time.

New Mercedes B Class to spawn 7 Seat version

It looks like Mercedes are going to stretch the appeal of the new B Class by adding a new 7 seat option. Mercedes foray in to small hatchbacks has not exactly been an unmitigated success. The last generation A and B class were really just two sizes of the same car, neither of which had much driver appeal and were bought as runarounds by Mercedes buyers who wanted a car for ‘er indoors.

Jaguar Land Rover production in Saudi Arabia – but not for a long time

Jaguar Land Rover are mulling the idea of setting up an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia next to a new aluminium smelting plant. When you’re Ratan Tata, and you not only run one of the biggest conglomerates in the world but also the culturally British Jaguar Land Rover, the world tends to listen when you speak. So when Ratan Tata said in an interview last week with Autocar India that JLR were looking at setting up an assembly plant and press shop in Saudi Arabia, the car world woke up and declared ‘Jaguar Land Rover to build cars in the Middle East’.

Jenson Button takes pole for McLaren at Spa

Jenson Button has driven his McLaren to a convincing pole position for tomorrow’s F1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Believe it or not, Jenson Button hasn’t had a pole position for McLaren. Or at least he hadn’t until today when he crushed the competition to take pole in tomorrow’s Spa Grand Prix.

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the World

In the week Ford built its 350 millionth car, the Ford Focus has been  revealed as the best selling car in the world in 2012. It probably helps that the Ford Focus is now a proper world car, rather than just a European model, but it’s still an impressive claim - the Ford Focus sold 522,181 in the first seven months of 2012, making it the world’s top selling car. Of that half a million plus Focuss (Focii?) Ford shifted over a  quarter of them in Europe (153,400) and the Focus outsold both the Toyota Corolla and VW Golf worldwide and in the last year a massive 860,00 Focus have found homes round the world.

Arnie gets a Mercedes Unimog (video)

Former Governor and ex-Mr Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger trades in his Hummer for a Mercedes Unimog. You’re one of the most famous faces in the world, you were Governor of California and, in a previous life, Mr Universe. You’re Arnold Schwarzenegger and you have an image to maintain.

Lada X-Ray

Russian automaker AvtoVaz has unveiled the Lada XRAY concept at the Moscow motor show. It's the first concept to emerge from under the direction of AvtoVaz's new design chief, Steve Mattin. Previously Design Director of Volvo, Mattin has a strong history with the SUV breed – it was under his direction that the XC60 was developed while at Volvo, while in his role prior to that at Mercedes-Benz, he also worked on the ML-Class.

Whos Where: Pierre Authier to become Vice President of Design for Opel/Vauxhall

 Pierre Authier is thought to become Vice President of Design for Opel/Vauxhall, leaving his current role as Peugeot Design Director, according to a source from within the PSA design department. The position has been up for grabs since the shock dismissal of Dave Lyon just days before he took up the position in Rüsselsheim, Germany last month. Authier has been at Peugeot since the start of his career in 1998, first working on the 307 model and most recently responsible for the well-received 208 supermini.

Concept Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo BAT 7

This week sees the Concept of the Week title go to Alfa Romeo and Bertone for their collaboration on the Alfa Romeo BAT 7, the second addition to the BAT series that began in 1953 and finished in 1955. First seen at the 1954 Turin motor show, this wildly futuristic ‘dream' car came about after Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone of the Bertone carrozeria to commission three concepts with the lowest possible drag coefficient. The cars were named BAT for "Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica." Built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis, the BAT cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins, and the concepts achieved a drag coefficient of just 0.19 - an impressive result.

Jaguar XF Sportbrake: It’s Dynamic

Jaguar has released a new video of the XF Sportbrake highlighting its dynamic abilities as the Sportbrake nears Jaguar showrooms. Jaguar has learnt that a drip feed – within reason – of cars to come is a good way to keep interest piqued, and with the XF Sportbrake getting close to availability in Jaguar showrooms we get a new video highlighting its dynamic abilities. The XF Estate is a car Jaguar should have had from the start of the XF’s life (despite the lack of a 4WD XF at the time), but they’re working hard to make sure the Sportbrake gets market share at the end of the current XF’s life.

2013 Land Rover Defender gets a bit more appealing

Land Rover has updated the Defender for 2013 with new colours, new premium seat design and upgraded in-car entertainment. The updates for the 2013 Land Rover defender may not be quite as radical, but in a car world that now expects a little more in the way of home comforts – even if you’re fording a stream or climbing a mountain – the new options are welcome. Land Rover has decided to offer a new range of contrast roof colours for the Defender, with the normal white option being extended to include Santorini Black, Indus Silver, Orkney Grey or Firenze Red and available on almost the whole of the Defender’s paint jobs.

Gumpert Insolvent

German supercar maker Gumpert has filed for insolvency after a foray in to China failed to realise the expected sales. We’re beginning to wonder if the only garden shed supercar makers actually able to make a go of things are British? Gumpert – German maker of extreme supercars – has instigated insolvency proceedings after its plan to make the newly wealthy Chinese fall in love with its bonkers cars floundered.

It’s the Citroen DS3 Cabrio

Citroen has revealed the DS3 Cabrio, an open-top version of the very good DS3. Debuts at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. We did expect the Citroen DS3 Cabrio to come with the ‘Airflow’ badge attached, but Citroen has decided to keep it simple, so DS3 Cabrio it is.

Citroen DS3 Cabrio (2012) first official pictures

Britain is Europe's biggest market for convertibles - odd, given our recent blink-and-you'll-miss-it summer. Still, Citroen hasn't been put off, and will launch the DS3 Cabrio after its world debut at the 2012 Paris motor show. Citroen claims the weight has only increased by 25kg over the hard-top DS3, and buyers will get even more personalisation options to go along with the wind-in-the-hair driving experience.