-->
There's some good news if you're a fan of Porsche and/or automotive design. Walter de' Silva, Volkswagen Group's design director, will very soon have another VW brand reporting to him: Porsche. Scroll on down for a gallery featuring some of his previous works including the Alfa Romeo 156, 147 and GTV, Seat Salsa and Tango concepts, Leon, Altea, and more recently, the Audi A5.
[Fresh pics added] What can we expect from the crisp, facelifted B6 ? Well, for one thing, it's actually labeled a seventh-generation model even though it's clearly B6-derived. In its defense, VW says "every body panel apart from the roof is new".
Said new panels extend the car by 4 millimeters (4,769 mm for sedan, 4,771 mm Estate), while the width and height remain the same at 1,820 mm and 1,474 mm, respectively.
Up front, the nose gets a more attractive grille / headlight treatment and is more in-line with VW's current styling. On the outer edges of the new, chromey grille reside LED running lights. At the rear, the tail lights get chrome accents and blend nicely with the sharper lines of VW's family saloon.
Those fortunate enough to be able to attend this year's will be in for quite a treat: according to the organizers, no less than 100 new vehicles, concept cars and updated models will be making their world premiere at the salon, which will be open for the public from Saturday 2 to Sunday 17 October at the Paris-Porte de Versailles exhibition center.
This year's edition of the biannual show in the city home to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame will see exciting new reveals from the likes of both domestic and foreign automakers including Abarth, Audi, BMW, Citroen, Kia, Lamborghini, Opel, Peugeot and Toyota - just to mention a few.
Starting September 30, we'll bring you all of the latest news, photos and videos from the Paris show floor as the premieres take place, but until then, check out the click-able list of planned debuts below or for our constantly updated and dedicated Paris Motor Show page.
Austrian motorcycle specialist KTM is hard at work on the 2011 model year version of its track-focused sports car, which will gain a higher performance R model. The original 790 kg (1,742 lb) X-BOW is powered by an Audi-sourced 240HP 2.0-liter TFSI. Around 500 have been sold worldwide since it was launched into the market in 2008.
The R model will have an additional 60 hp (45kw) over the standard model thanks to the adoption of the more powerful 2.0 TFSI from the Audi S3, which features changes to the engine electronics and peripherals to bump output to 300-horsepower.
It will be available in two equipment packages: a road legal / homologated "Sport" package and a more track orientated "Race" pack.
Many of the parts that go into the R will be available through X-BOW's PowerParts, so owners can tune their existing X-BOW to Sport and Race specifications.
Pictured in our gallery is a prototype version of the 2011 X-BOW R with the new parts installed undergoing testing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
More detailed information, including pricing, will be released early next year.
Caterham is ready to release another "entry-level" special edition Seven in order to celebrate the amazing city-state that is Monaco. Called the "Roadsport 125 Monaco", this Seven gets a unique paint scheme representing the Monegasque flag to highlight its aluminum body; also, "Monaco" is pasted down the side if people can't make the connection.
Inside, you'll find black leather with red stitching to complement the exterior. While black and red usually looks good and needs no reason to exist on a car, Caterham says that in this car, it's meant to symbolize "the roulette wheels found in Casino Square".
Power for Caterham's latest seats-on-wheels open fun machine is the basic 1.6 liter Ford Sigma inline-4 with 125 horsepower and 120 lb-ft of torque; the engine's mated to a 5-speed transmission.
Caterham says the mill can push the 500 kg (or 550 kg, if going by the website) car to 112mph (181km/h) and produces "a power-to-weight ratio of 227bhp per tonne", allowing it to complete the zero to 60mph (96km/h) sprint in 5.9 seconds.
The car also supposedly comes with a weather kit that makes it "thoroughly enjoyable in any conditions"; if it's raining, why don't we just take the Rolls instead?
Price of entry into the world of James Bond, F1, and wealth beyond your wildest dreams is £20,995. However, there's a bonus if you know you simply have to have one RIGHT NOW: the first 20 buyers can take another £1,000 off that price.
Following on from some revealing reader spy photos and an official, single teaser images of the Pursuit car version of the redesigned 2011 (or 2012MY) Dodge Charger, we now have a walk around video of the facelifted model shot during the Police Fleet Expo.
The differences between the civilian and police versions of the 2011 Dodge Charger are limited to the decals and the necessary police car equipment, so what you see here in terms of sheet metal changes is what you'll get when the sedan arrives in showrooms later this year.
Following on from the launch and the start of production of the new earlier this year, Peugeot announced on Monday that it has begun building the compact saloon at the PSA Peugeot Citroën Palomar factory, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Not to be confused with the large, the VW Jetta-sized 408 is the sedan variant of the Peugeot 308 family which includes hatchback, station wagon and coupe-convertible body styles.
The 408 will have its South American premiere at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil at the end of October. Aside from Argentina and Brazil, the compact sedan will also go on sale in 25 other Latin American countries.
Peugeot did not release any information on the powertrain options for the South American spec model. In China, the 408 is offered with a choice of 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter gasoline engines producing 106HP and 147HP respectively.
