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Kia preparing a range of sporting models

Kia is quietly readying a string of sportier models to pep up its humdrum image, CAR has learned. The burgeoning sports car plan is likely to sire everything from hot hatches to standalone sports cars. On our trip to Korea this week, sources at Kia HQ confirmed a range of performance models, designed to mix some excitement into a brand that now commands respect from mainstream buyers after its crawl upmarket to the volume market alongside Europe's mass-market brands.

The most exclusive Mercedes-Benz G-class is this stretched BINZ

If you thought the G63 AMG was the meanest and most exclusive version of the Mercedes-Benz G-class that you could buy today, you haven't seen the version that Mercedes-Benz coachbuilder BINZ GmbH has been making for more than two decades. That's right, the smug owners of those G63 AMGs you see parked in front of trendy restaurants downtown do not, in fact, possess the coolest version of the long-running G-class. BINZ is known in other markets as the maker of Mercedes-Benz limousines and ambulances, but their wares are almost entirely unknown in the western hemisphere.

Cool Cars and Hot August Nights

Hot August Nights is a weeklong party, and the cars are the stars. Not just any cars--vintage, cool cars, mostly from the 1950s and '60s. American-made muscle cars such as Ford Mustangs, Shelby Cobras, Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac GTOs dominate the festival in Reno, Nev., but there are also plenty of Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, AMCs and even some Jaguars, Volkswagens and Mini Coopers seen cruising the streets of northern Nevada.