Porsche’s 4-door luxury coupe, the Porsche Panamera, has been continuously going around test rounds on roads around Europe, while we patiently wait for some form of concept or pre-production preview at any upcoming motor show. The front-engined, rear wheel drive Porsche Panamera is set to go up against other luxury 4-door coupe-styled sedans like the Mercedes Benz CLS and the Aston Martin Rapide.

Engine options will most likely be the range in Porsche’s SUV, the Cayenne. We’ll see a base model 3.6 liter V6 making 290hp, as well as a Panamera S model carrying a 4.8 liter V8 making 385hp. Top of the line will be the Porsche Panamera Turbo, featuring a twin turbocharged version of the 4.8 liter V8 good for 500 horsepower.

Two more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of More Porsche Panamera Spyshots

These are sketches of Hyundai’s Concept Genesis, a D-segment vehicle that will make it’s public debut at the New York International Auto Show this year. Rumours are that the Concept Genesis will eventually graduate as a production model Hyundai i50, also code-named Hyundai Equus. The Equus is supposedly Hyundai’s first rear wheel drive platform car. This might be the successor to the Hyundai Sonata, and with rear wheel drive, it should please the Americans and Australians.

A little bit about Hyundai’s new model naming scheme. Hyundai seems to have emulated BMW’s number scheme somewhat, with the Hyundai i30 being in the same segment as the 3-series which is the C-segment, while this new i50 will be similiar in size to the 5-series, a D-segment car. Following this trend, we might see a future large Hyundai called the i70?

One more rear view sketch after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Concept Genesis - D-segment competitor

Rolling around in a BMW 3 Touring is certainly going to get you alot of stares. After all, how many Malaysians are used to seeing station wagons around other than the popular AD Resort workhorse? Some of my peers even commented to me they didn’t know BMW made station wagons. Apparently BMW is supposed to be making sporty driver’s cars, and it seems that station wagon can’t really fit into the typical equation. Call me weird, but I actually prefer the Touring body to the Sedan’s body!

Read my full report after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of BMW 320d Touring Test Drive

Lotus Engineering displayed their Integrated Exhaust Manifold technology at the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show. Basically, it is an exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head. A demonstration of this was shown as a cylinder head design for a small 3-cylinder engine, which I would say would benefit much from this technology. Integrating the exhaust manifold into the cylinder head brings numerous benefits which I will outline below.

An integrated exhaust manifold reduces parts count, which reduces costs throughout the development cycle. Other areas where this will reduce costs include the inventory, assembly and aftermarket parts supply areas. Less parts, less to stock.

Through the use of a cooling jacket design, heat is retained in the engine (which is cooled via the radiator system) rather than letting it radiate into the engine bay. This improves the performance of the air conditioning system, thus reducing it’s power consumption. A cooler engine bay also means cooler air into the air intake, which boosts performance. The engine also warms up more quickly. Coolant can also cool the engine more evenly, reducing engine block stress.

Engine durability improves, as thermal stresses usually occur at points where different materials meet. In an engine with a conventional exhaust system design, an aluminium cylinder head meeting a cast iron exhaust causes thermal stress.

The integrated exhaust manifold also allows the catalytic converter to be positioned very near the exhaust output, thus reducing the amount of exhaust heat lost in travelling from the cylinder to the catalyst. This improves catalyst performance, thus reducing emissions to an ultra-low level without incurring higher costs.

For those not in the loop, Richard Hammond of Top Gear fame recently got into an accident while filming some footage for Top Gear. He was driving, or should I say piloting a dragster-style jet-powered car capable of reaching speeds over 500km/h, when a tyre gave way and sent the car flying towards the right, and ending up with it’s nose dug into the ground. Hammond was in a serious but stable condition, but recently recovered wonderfully and is back on the Top Gear show. Here is a video of the crash, 12 minutes long.

Click here to read the rest of Hammond’s Car Crash

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Volkswagen’s Cross virus has infected the SEAT brand - introducing the Seat Altea Freetrack Prototype based on the Seat Altea XL. To improve approach and departure angles, the Freetrack stands 185mm higher than the standard Altea XL. It’s also equipped with a more aggressive bodykit to invoke a sense of adventure.

On the inside, the cockpit has been re-arranged and turned into a 2+2 seater with sports bucket seats. The engine itself is the venerable 2.0 liter TFSI which is tuned to make 240PS, mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. A Haldex differential sends power to all four wheels, making the Altea Freetrack not so much of a poser soft-roader but something which can do moderate amounts of off-roading.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Seat Altea Freetrack Prototype

Not much details of Subaru’s new turbodiesel boxer engine were revealed at the Geneva 2007 Motor Show, causing an outcry from Subaru fans who expected to get the juicy details on the specifications, any new technologies as well as how much power the new oil burning boxer would produce. We got nothing, other than the engine itself put on display mated to an all-wheel-drive drivetrain.

Anyway, Subaru has shifted it’s international focus to the USA, putting it as it’s highest priority market. Subaru intends to add dealerships (target 625 by 2010, currently 601), increase collaboration between Subaru’s US manufacturing and sales arms as well as pay greater attention to U.S. automotive trends to ensure new models are relevant to the US market.

Subaru was previously in a fix, under the leadership of Kyoji Takenaka, it wanted to move upmarket and carry a premium tag, however premium usually means luxury, and that isn’t exactly what Subaru is, thus sales volumes dwindled. I’m not sure what Subaru had in mind then, how do you be premium without actually being premium? Under the new management of Ikuo Mori, Subaru intends to return to it’s roots.

As for new stuff, Geneva 2008 will bring us a new diesel-powered Subaru car and it will go on sale in Europe as well as the US. For the moment, we’ll just have to settle for a video of the new engine after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Subaru’s 4-year plan: turbodiesel boxers!

Volkswagen, one of the few car companies that manages to maximize the amount of vehicles it can produce from a single platform will now further enhance it’s ability with Audi’s modular MLP platform. The first car based on Audi’s MLP platform is the Audi A5 together with it’s high-powered S5 cousin.

As it already is, Volkswagen manages to squeeze plenty of cars out from a single platform - the base Volkswagen Golf platform has spawned the Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Eos, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon, Audi A3, and the upcoming Volkswagen Tiguan. The combination of the new ability to share modules vertically in a product range - subcompact up to luxury limo, as well as horizontally across different marques - Skoda up to Audi, will allow Volkswagen to produce a high number of cars from one platform, thus taking less manpower and engineering time. Genius, really.

The first Volkswagen to use MLP will be the 7th generation Volkswagen Golf which will arrive around 2012, two generations away. The current Volkswagen Golf is the Mark5, with the Mark6 due in 2008.

I wonder how Audi/Volkswagen’s MLP compares to Lotus Engineering’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA). Which is more flexible, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? It would be very interesting to know.

This is Volvo’s new XC70, the latest edition of it’s popular off-roading capable 4WD version of it’s V70 wagon. This time following Volvo’s new design language, the XC70 takes on a much more sculpted and aggressive appearance. It also has a tailgate that reminds me of a certain generation of the Subaru Forester, though elements of the Volvo C30 are also very much there. The enlarged front grille and the upwards sloping headlamps look fine, but I find the bumper is looking abit too concept-car-ish, the design is too busy.

For the moment, the new Volvo XC70 will come with two engine options, a 238hp 3.2 liter inline-6 as well as a 5-cylinder turbodiesel that’s good for 185 horsepower and a whole load of torque, 400 Newton Meters! Power is transmitted via a 6-speed Geartronic transmission to all four wheels. Other features include Hill Descent Control (ah, a testimoniy of real off-road prowess), Dynamic Stability and Traction Control, and an adjustable suspension that Volvo calls Four-C which can be set to comfort, or sport mode to tailor the XC70’s ride to driving style and conditions.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New 2008 Volvo XC70 revealed

Sighted at Geneva: a sporty, sleek yet unconventional car that looks like a supercar and is powered by a hybrid V12 engine. The name of Giugiaro’s VAD.HO concept is a clever play on words. It’s a combination of Giugiaro’s hometown since 1974, the Vado industrial area in Moncalieri, and it is also meant to sound like vado, or “I go” in Italian, with the H slotted in to symbolize hydrogen.

Using an asymmetrical design, the Giugiaro VAD.HO concept places a jet-fighter-like two person cockpit with the driver in front and passenger at the back at the left side of the car. The cockpit cover lifts gullwing-style and the outer-facing armrests of each seat can be lifted up to help get out of the car. On the right is the BMW V12 Hydrogen hybrid engine that’s found in the BMW Hydrogen 7. The cockpit has much more fighter-jet-ness going for it than just it’s shape, you are also supposed to control the car via joysticks. Yes, two joysticks are fixed onto the armrests, one for each person. The driver’s joystick is used to steer the car of course, while the passenger uses it to access the on-board computer system.

More photos as well as a full detailed press release after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Italdesign Giugiaro VAD.HO concept