Organizers of the Pebble Beach Concours d^Elegance have confirmed the new Alfa Romeo 8C Spider will be unveiled at the event on August 21. Alfa would like to return to North America in 2007, so this is a great way to highlight its "sporty" image. The original 8C Competizione sports car was unveiled two years ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show and ever since the question has been, "Will it be built or not?" As it was so well received, Alfa had at one point decided to go ahead with an open-top version, but then the company^s priorities changed. Now visitors to the ocean paradise where the Pebble Beach Concours is being held will be face-to-face with the 8C Spider, the open-top variant. The 8C Competizione had been fitted with a front-mounted, rear-wheel-drive 4.2-liter Maserati V8. It seems the 8C Spider has the same arrangement.
Subaru will be displaying an awesome-looking machine — a preview of next year^s World Rally Impreza — at September^s Frankfurt Motor Show. When Subaru redesigned the Impreza WRX this summer, giving its super-fast 4WD sedan a whole new front end, it was inevitable the changes would eventually find their way through to its production WRC.
Audi’s tribute to the 25th anniversary of quattro all-wheel drive is a V8-powered, limited-edition S4 25quattro. It debuts Aug. 19 at A Motorsports Gathering at the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California. All cars come with Avus Silver paint, unique rocker panels and front and rear bumpers, and 18-inch wheels. Inside, a special shift knob identifies each car as being “1 of 250,” while carbon fiber trim and other special materials set the S4 25quattro apart from the standard S4.
The Frankfurt Show sees the debut of what Vauxhall is calling "Britain^s fastest hatchback". We^re not talking about the new Astra VXR, but its bigger brother, the Vectra VXR, due to be shown in Frankfurt as the Opel Vectra OPC. You can see from the pictures that the VXR (based on the facelifted Vectra) gains the usual body addenda, without going too far. At the front is a deeper bumper incorporating foglights and honeycomb mesh, below the body-coloured ^V^ grille. Side sills and 18-inch alloys complete the profile, while the rear end gains an understated spoiler and a new apron with a pair of trapezoidal exhaust pipes. VXR badging is relatively subtle all round.
VW didn^t quite expect the Mark IV Golf R32 to be the resounding success it was, with 2,300 examples sold in the UK alone. The Frankfurt Show sees the launch of the all-new Mark V version, set to be the most powerful production Golf to date. As with its predecessor, the new car uses Volkswagen^s narrow-angle 3.2-litre V6, but power is up to 247bhp. Though the Golf GTi^s chassis copes well with nearly 200bhp, VW is sensibly fitting the R32 with the 4MOTION four-wheel drive system. Allied to sticky low profile tyres, grip should be prodigious in the dry and hold a distinct advantage over other hot hatches in the wet. It is also likely that the torque transfer will be adjusted to suit the enthusiastic driver, i.e. more torque to the rear wheels in normal operation.
British sports carmaker Lotus will revive the Europa nameplate for its new 2+2 coupe, which will be unveiled at next March^s Geneva Motor Show. The Europa is based on a widened and lengthened Elise chassis, giving it two small rear seats and easier access. It will fit between the rough-and-ready Elise/Exige sports cars and the planned new Esprit coupe. It will be powered by a turbocharged 2.0- or 2.2-liter GM engine from the "hot hatch" Opel Astra — making between 200 and 240 horsepower. According to the company, it will be quieter, more luxurious and less harsh-riding than the Elise, which will give it greater appeal in the U.S.