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Infiniti planning to take on Porsche Panamera

Infiniti planning to make the Essence Concept (pictured) in to a Panamer-like Coupe Back in 2009 – ahead of Infiniti launching in Europe – the Infiniti Essence arrived at the Geneva Motor Show as an illustration of what we could expect to see from Infiniti in the future. That was four years ago, but now it looks like the Essence may be on its way to production – after a slight stretch and the acquisition of a couple of extra doors – after Andy Palmer, Nissan’s VP for Future Products, told Automotive News Infiniti is planning a range-topping flagship to take on the Porsche Panamera. The Essence seems a good starting point for that mission; it’s already a big (over 15′ long) swoopy-coupe with a hybrid powerplant consisting of a 3.7 litre turbo V6 and electric motor combination good for 590bhp.

Hyundai increasing European production to 500,000 a year

Hyundai are upping production in Europe to 500,000 per annum There’s an awful lot of sense in car makers designing and building cars for the markets they serve locally, and it’s a route Hyundai has followed in Europe, where the majority of their sales are of European built models, not imports. With Hyundai sales still growing despite the European car market meltdown, Hyundai are increasing capacity in Europe to keep up with demand with further investment in their plant in Ízmit, Turkey. Originally, the Ízmit plant produced just 60,000 cars a year, but in 2007 that was increased to 125,000 and now it is being increased to 200,000 so the new i10 can be built there as well as the latest i20.

Audi A1 – the design tease

Audi are teasing the design of the new A1 in this latest video (below) If you’ve been living in a cave for the last few months you may have missed the news that Audi is about to launch what it hopes will be a MINI-bashing offering – the Audi A1. The A1 is actually destined for a public launch at the Geneva Motor Show in March – and Audi has threatened full disclosure for next month – but in the meantime it’s on a ‘Teaser’ blitz. We haven’t reported on every tease (we didn’t bother with the ‘Look – the new A1 has headlights’ one last week), but we have covered some, like the graffiti advert.