Spied: 2012 Porsche Boxster S

The new Porshce Boxster was recently spied while being taken for a test drive, undisguised and in broad daylight. The picture provides a clear view of the model’s lines and detail with its sharp side strakes, side air inlets and prominent wheel arches. The rear of the vehicle sees a new integrated lip spoiler that spans right across the car’s rump, bisecting the taillamps.

Provided by some forced induction and a few tweaks, the 2.5-litre flat-4-cylinder engine could generate as much as 360hp under the hood.

The model is expected to make its official debut around the beginning of 2012.

Tesla Confirms Model S Details

Tesla has reassured all of its potential buyers that it will not be following the lead of its competition by increasing its initial price ahead of its release. Tesla has since confirmed that a base Model S, with an estimated 160 miles of range, will retail for about $57,400 with a tax credit of $7,500. The 230 mile range version will carry a $10,000 premium with an additional $10, 000 if you want a chance at making 300 miles on a charge. $77,400 will get you the top of the line Model S 300, a limited edition of 1000 vehicles, which will initially be named the “Model S Signature Series”.

Deliveries are expected to begin around the summer of 2012 in the US, with the 230 and 160 versions coming later in the year. Tesla hopes to produce a total of 5,000 cars in 2012 followed by 20,000 in 2013. There is a two year delivery wait ahead for markets that require a right-hand drive model.

Bentley’s Luxurious Linley Edition

Bentley Automobile

Bentley takes luxury to a whole new level by collaborating with British design company Linley to launch 10 limited edition Continental Flying Spurs. David Linley, the Chairman of the company, has established himself as the finest designer of luxurious furniture in the UK and maybe even the world and so, it is fitting that two brands synonymous with sophistication and affluence should come together in this way.

Bentley Auto

The vehicle was unveiled in completion at the Jack Barclay dealership in London. It features the finest Santos rosewood veneers covering the fascia, console, waistrail and roof console of the interior. Where Bentley chestnut or walnut would normally be used, veneers cover the entire wood surfaces of the model. The waistrails and fold-down picnic tables feature Linley’s trademark Helix motif from the furniture collection inlayed from four different types of wood into an intricate pattern. The custom fitted Linley humidor drops into a unique console that contains a humidification system, cigar cutter and ashtray. Other key features include an in-built fridge set behind the arm rest and rear console with specially designed space for bottle storage and a pop up vanity mirror concealed in the picnic tables.

Mark Blanchard, Head of Design at Linley, stated that “It has been an exciting and challenging project to work on. We designed the interior within the stringent constraints specified by Bentley, however we ensured the car exemplified Linley craftsmanship.”

View the video below for the official launch.

2012 Porsche Panamera Turbo S

Only a few years after the launch of the Panamera Turbo, Porsche Turbo S has been added to the lineup with a squeeze another 50 hp from 4.8 liters awesome, twin-turbo V-8. This model is not exactly a surprise: The Panamera V-8 engines shared with the Cayenne and Cayenne last generation is offered with a 550-hp variations.

From ultra luxury to ultra performance, the 2012 Porsche Panamera is the "everything to everybody"sedan.Impressive cornering ability; engine choices from willing to thrilling; high fuel economy ofHybrid model; comfortable ride; beautiful cabin quality.

Panamera is big and heavy car, but it shines as it thunders on the road at real speed. Modified engine management and turbocharger enables an increase in titanium aluminum is 550 hp and 553 pounds-ft of torque, up from 516 for the regular Turbo. The chassis is "Sport" and "Sport Plus" mode, overboost function increases the twist to £ 590 ft-wild. Turbo can regularly raise the already-impressive 568 pounds-ft below the overboost, which is accessed by paying for Sport Chrono package. This package is standard in the Turbo S.

Added power translates into a performance you do not need to complain about: Porsche says 60 mph can be achieved in 3.6 seconds, but we used to clock the 3.3 Turbo. Picture a tenth or two faster than that, thanks largely to a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic, which includes the launch-control function. This is the only transmission available. The company claims a top speed of 190 mph, but based on our testing, real-world figure will be higher around 5 mph. If you are concerned, Porsche does not have a final rating of the fuel economy, but it said they would approach the Turbo city / highway numbers of 15/23 mpg.

2014 Volkswagen Phaeton

WHAT IT IS: The follow-up to the spectacularly slow-selling Phaeton. It will continue to be assembled at a lavish factory in Dresden, Germany, and once again will share powertrains and technology with high-end Audis and the Bentley Continental range.

WHY IT MATTERS: The Phaeton represents the VW brand’s highest aspirations. As before, the Phaeton will attempt to move VW upmarket into the BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes sphere. 

PLATFORM: Architecture usually reserved for Audis (dubbed MLB) will undergird the Phaeton.  A longitudinally mounted engine and all-wheel drive are its hallmarks, as is the extensive use of aluminum. 

POWERTRAIN: A new, twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 with 345 horses will power base versions. A few will come with the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that is shared with the Continental range and the Audi S8. Even fewer will come with a W-12. 

COMPETITION: Audi A8, BMW 7-series, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS, Mercedes-Benz S-class. 

WHAT MIGHT GO WRONG: Perched way above the rest of the VW lineup, the new Phaeton may continue to confuse shoppers. 

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL AND PRICE: Anticipated in late 2013, starting at about $65,000. 

The Footman James Classic Motor Show was enormous but enjoyable

CLASSIC cars in industrial quantities. That's what you would have got if you'd joined me and thousands of others at the NEC last weekend.

Anyone familiar with the Footman James Classic Motor Show will know it's a big deal - it is, arguably, the only show that caters for fans of all things a bit old and oily on a national scale - but this year the organisers, freed from the constraints of having to share a gig with Top Gear Live, really pulled out the stops to make it bigger and bolder than ever before. It was massive.

Simply getting in is quite unlike any other show I've been to. You park up and get on a bus, which takes you to an elevator, followed by a Heathrow Airport-style moving walkway that seems to go on forever, which leads on to a labyrinth of corridors which in turn brings you to the back of the queue for tickets. This, I think, is deliberate; it's to prepare you for the sheer amount of walking the show itself involves.

Last weekend was a giddying array of just about every vaguely old vehicle ever made - yes, there were Hillman Imps and Ford Anglias at one end and Astons and Ferraris at the other, but if you're the sort of person who lies awake at night dreaming of owning a Vauxhall Nova then you were well catered for too. But our party must have walked miles checking out the seemingly endless sea of classic cars. If anything, it was slightly overwhelming. I stopped taking photos after the 175th click out of sympathy for my camera, but one classic car buff I spoke to had taken hundreds of shots.

I emerged seven hours later with cream-crackered feet and weighed down with bags of freebies, and with the prospect of the long drive back from Birmingham to look forward to. If I'd known just how big it was going to be I would've made a weekend of it - one day for the cars, another for the autojumble - because just the one day is nowhere near enough to take it all in.

It's great to think that even in an age when Britain's turned its back on national motorshows, with the motor makers favouring Frankfurt and Geneva instead, we can still put on an automotive extravaganza on this sort of scale. I'll just make sure I bring comfier shoes next time.

Fire up the... Peugeot 208

PEUGEOT'S back on the ball, if the new 208 is anything to go by.

The French firm's built up a fine reputation for building feisty hatchbacks with a sense of fun - as anyone familiar with the 205, 306 and 106 will surely testify - but to my mind at least the more recent models, particularly the 207, never really caught the imagination in the same way. Deep down, I reckon that's why Peugeot's pulled out all the stops to get it right with its latest supermini contender.

For starters, it looks good, with a sharply-sculpted shape and carefully chosen proportions which at a stroke render the old 207 a bit blobby and comparision. It's the same story on the inside too, with interior fabrics and plastics which owe plenty to its big brother, the 508 saloon. The main thing which strikes you is the unusual way the controls are laid out - you look over the steering wheel to see the dials, rather than through it - but it's as intuitive as it is innovative. Same story goes for the tablet-style computer sitting atop the centre console, although I suspect having an actual iPad dock there instead might have been a smarter move.

But the best thing about the 208 by far is the way it drives. You'd expect that the 1.6 Feline version I tried wouldn't be lacking in pace - at £16,895, it's holding the warm hatch fort until the eagerly-anticipated GTi version arrives - but where it really shines is in the fluidity of its handling and in its natural agility in the sort of low-speed urban darting in and around town.

For the past three years I've always argued the Fiesta is the best of the superminis but the 208 is now a better looking, more entertaining and technologically superior package to Ford's finest. After a couple of years in the hatchback wilderness, Peugeot's got its mojo back and produced one of the best cars I've driven all year.