Mazda 2 facelift (2012) with SkyActiv revealed

The Mazda Demio facelift - that's Mazda2 to me and you We’re back to the old story of car reveals for the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) pointing at reveals to come in overseas markets, with the reveal of the facelifted Mazda Demio telling us all we need to know about the next Mazda 2 Facelift. Although the Mazda2 has had the car surgeon’s knife lightly applied to freshen things up a bit, the big news is the oily bits, where Mazda are busy showing us that there are better alternatives to frugal cars than electric or hybrid. The new Mazda 2 gets the direct injection, 1.3 litre SkyActiv engine which features a raft of technology to squeeze every last drop of energy out of the petrol it uses, together with a CVT ‘box which does the decent thing and offers a seven-speed manual mode.

2012 Mercedes A-Class AMG to get 350bhp & 4WD

Mercedes Concept-A gets unveiled in Shanghai It’s rather hard to imagine the current Mercedes A-Class coming with 350bhp running through its front wheels. It may have managed to pass the Elk test to make it safe, but 350bhp would be enough to tear the steering wheel from your hands and roll you over in a brisk bend. But this isn’t the current A-Class we’re talking about, but the 2012 Mercedes A-Class based on the very fine-looking Mercedes Concept-A we reported a couple of weeks ago, and which bowed in at Shanghai this week.

Audi Q3 RS confirmed – but it won’t be badged RS

Audi Q3 RS confirmed - with 300bhp but no RS badge Back in June we reported that Audi are working on a quick Q3 with something around 300bhp. We didn’t think it would get to market as the Q3 RS (Audi will want to protect the RS badge) but it would almost certainly arrive. Which seems to have been confirmed.