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For fans of the new 2006 Honda Civic, you will be able to see race-prepared versions of them in action at the 12-hour Merdeka Millenium Endurance race (MME) 2006 at Sepang International Circuit held on August 27, 2006. Team Honda Racing, which won the Class A Champion title for 3 years consecutively will be the first team in the world to use the new 8th generation 2006 Honda Civic as race cars.

New Generation of Honda

The new Opel Zafira OPC makes its world premiere at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show (March 3

The next generation Lexus iS Lexus has issued the following press release: Setting new class standards in driving dynamics, on-board luxury and ergonomic excellence, the new IS - the next generation of Lexus

Back to the future By Bob Jennings The Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday July 7 2004 The next generation Subaru WRX will return the car to its roots: small, agile and quick. The startled look of the "goggle-eyed" Subaru Impreza is unlikely to be seen again -- and the new model due in 2006 will revive the ingredients that made the original a cult car. Subaru has learnt its lesson from the design faux pas it made with the daring 2000 model (pictured), judging by the interest the designer of the next generation Impreza has in the opinion of Australian buyers. Hiroshi Mori, project general manager of Subaru's product planning division, made a discreet visit to Australia recently for the Rally of Canberra. He was there as a guest of Subaru, which sponsored the rally, but his main interest was catching up with local owners at the Subaru WRX Festival (which was on at the same time), who expressed their opinions in no uncertain terms. Australia is Subaru's third-biggest market outside Japan and the US, and Subaru is aware that with successive generations of the Impreza it has become larger, heavier and, in some respects, slower. Potential repeat buyers of the new model have suggested that this is not what they are seeking. Significantly, Mori says previous conservatism and adverse reaction to the controversial "bug-eyed" Impreza had forced a major design rethink and that styling is playing a more important role in the development of the next model Subaru Impreza. "In the past, performance was a priority. Safety and then design were next," Mori says. "But at the time of the introduction of the new Liberty, we realised that design is as important as performance." Subaru is well into the design process of the next generation Impreza, which is due to be introduced in late 2006, and the exterior styling should be signed off before the end of the year. In Canberra, Mori wanted to get a feel for what WRX fans desired from the next Impreza in terms of styling, packaging and performance, although the hard points of these aspects of the vehicle are well on to the way to being locked in. Mori says the next generation Impreza -- and the flagship turbo WRX -- will be "an aggressive" car. Drive's correspondent in Japan, Peter Lyon, reports there are some design staff at Subaru's headquarters who feel the four-door boxy shape is the path Subaru should be going down but they have been overruled by those who believe the next Impreza should be smaller, lighter and more stylish, along the lines of the World Rally Championship contenders such as the Citroen Xsara and Peugeot 307 CC. There are also suggestions in Japan that there will be a smaller, lighter, more compact three-door hatch-like Impreza in the range when it surfaces and the new model will boast performance equal to, if not better, than the current model. Joining the Impreza line-up further into its model life, in five to six years, is expected to be a hybrid-powered version which will link the conventional horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine with an electric motor. When the "goggled-eyed" WRX was released in 2000, the then designer, Mamoru Ishii, rebutted criticism of the car's bold styling and dismissed the original Impreza as boring. When spy photos of the 2000 model appeared, enthusiasts likened the look of the car to everything from a Toyota Corolla to a frightened deer. Many owners on internet chat sites said they would not buy the new model because it had lost its macho image. "I knew there would be negative feeling," Ishii told Drive in September 2000. "The Japanese reports are 50 percent positive and 50 percent negative. "We wanted to give the car some presence. We wanted strong styling and strong character. I will concede that it is dangerous to go too strong and have everybody hate it but I don't think we have crossed that line." Ishii said Europe was the biggest design influence. "We've tried to capture [the essence of] Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar," he said.

Seat Altea - start of a new generation SEAT has issued the following press release: The SEAT Altea is coming soon. Only five months after its presentation as a prototype at the last Frankfurt Motor Show, it is now a reality. This model heralds a new generation of SEAT models, and is the first vehicle to be wholly developed within the Audi Brand Group since it was established in 2002. The beginning of the new age for SEAT is based on three fundamental pillars - the well-known Ibiza and Le

Some pics taken from the BMW SG Forum of how the next generation of the BMW 3-Series will probably look like. Looks like the Chris Bangle "influence" continues on.......

URL - http://www.motioncars.com/autobuzz/article...w_5-series.html Spied! BMW's Fifth Generation 5-series By Ulysses Ang After boasting about the advantages of a normally aspirated, high-revving engine, BMW seems to be giving into what its competitors have been doing: relying on forced air. The fifth-generation 5-series is expected to make a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March with a 380 bhp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6. Other engines that will complete the 5-series' line-up include a new 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4. Of course, the usual normally aspirated inline-6s in 2.2-liter, 2.5-liter and 3.0-liter displacements will still be made available. A few months into sales, the 7-series' 3.6-liter and 4.5-liter V8s will be made available. Underneath, the 5-series will use a lightweight hybrid construction found in the Z8 and the Rolls-Royce Phantom. The new suspension system will use an aluminum spaceframe with extensive use of aluminum bits to keep the weight below the 2002 model. The new 5-series is not expected to carry the entire safety and comfort features of the current 7-series, however, it is rumored to carry a steering system that corrects for high-speed cross winds and heavy braking; an automatic damping suspension system; dynamic stability controls and a less complex iDrive system. From these photos, the new BMW 5-series looks like a shrunken 7-series. Though the looks maybe questionable, the performance certainly isn't with new turbocharged engines available for the first time.

Six months ago, Nissan launched the 11th generation of its Skyline model in sedan form and it was quite a change from the previous generation in both design and engineering. Most likely signed off by Mr Ghosn after he moved in to head Nissan, the new Skyline generation

Due in the States next summer as a 2004 model, the fifth-generation 5 Series will likely bow at the Geneva motor show in March with a new 380-hp, twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder. Other engines slated for the 5 include a turbo 2.0-liter inline four and naturally aspirated versions of BMW