Carscoop's A to Z Guide to the 2012 Geneva Motor Show

Switzerland is not a country that springs to mind when you think about cars. It doesn't even produce cars on a large scale. Yet every March since 1905, it hosts one of the world’s most important motor shows at its second-largest city.

The 2012 Geneva Motor Show will open its doors to auto journalists on February 6 and to the public, between March 8 and 18. It will host 260 exhibitors, including 30 major car manufacturers.

According to the organizers, visitors at the 82nd Geneva International Auto Salon will see 180 world and European premieres of all sorts. If we had to name a single characteristic, we would say that car designer seem to have gotten their "mojo" back, having penned many handsome models.

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The Full Skinny on the New Volvo V40 Including the Engine Range

You've no doubt seen the official pictures and video of the all-new Volvo V40, which is proving to be the worst kept secret of the 2012 Geneva Auto Salon.

Nevertheless, we have more news coming our way thanks to our Greek friends over at Auto2day-gr, as they sent us the skinny on all those details about the V40 we were missing. And yes, we can confirm that the data is official.

We'll start with the V40's dimensions as in one of our previous posts featuring some scans from the Swedish edition of Auto Motor und Sport magazine, we wrongly assumed that the V40 measured 450cm (177-in.) long.

As it turns out, the publication was referring to the maximum length of the series, which it said would eventually include the S40 sedan, C40 three-door hatchback and XC40 SUV, and not specifically the V40.

The V40 measures 4,369mm (172.0 -in.) long, 2,041mm (80.3-in.) wide including the mirrors and 1,445mm (56.9-in.) tall, while it rides on a 2,647mm (104.2-in.) wheelbase. That makes it roughly the same size as its BMW rival, the new generation of the 1-Series.

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Sources Say GM wants to Acquire 5 Percent Stake in PSA Peugeot-Citroën as Alliance Talks Progress

A merger, a tie-up, an alliance or a collaboration, whatever you call it, at the end of the day, it all boils down to one thing: how well two automakers can work together in order to minimize costs and maximize profits.

As previously reported, General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen are discussing a “strategic alliance” in Europe that could prove beneficial for both companies.

GM would find a way to cut costs in its Opel and Vauxhall brands, which are bleeding cash for what seems like forever, while Peugeot and Citroen would use GM as a means to increase their volume and lessen their dependence on the troubled European market by expanding elsewhere.

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Acura Announces Prices for V6-powered 2013 RDX, Starts from $34,320*

The more mature 2013 Acura RDX crossover that was revealed alongside the new ILX compact sedan at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this month will go on sale in the U.S. this spring with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) starting at $34,320, which does not include a destination charge of $885 (*) that puts the total to $35,205. Read more »

China and U.S.A. are Key to Bentley’s Plan to Double its Sales

Despite the global crisis, last year Bentley increased its sales by 30 percent compared to 2010, yet the VW Group-owned luxury carmaker has even grander plans for the next five years.

While he is satisfied with the results so far, Bentley’s CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer wants his company to more than double its annual sales from today’s 7,000 units to 15,000 in 2017. Duerheimer told Automotive News Europe that he counts on China and the recovering U.S. market to contribute a lot in that increase.

“We are currently experiencing a boom in China, where our sales almost doubled to 1,839 vehicles in 2011”, said Duerheimer. “That made China Bentley’s second-largest single market. It will likely advance into the number one spot this year”, he added.

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Chinese Government Scraps All Foreign Brands from its New Car Buying List

It's customary for state officials of a car-producing nation to prefer local manufacturers for their transportation needs.

For example, German dignitaries will mostly be seen on TV stepping out of a Mercedes, BMW or Audi; their British counterparts choose brands like Jaguar, the French, large Peugeots or Renaults and so on.

It's also natural to promote their domestic products, though we haven't heard of any law specifically prohibiting the purchase of certain brands for all government agencies. Until now, that is.

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Nissan Reveals New Almera Sedan for Russia, goes on Sale Next Year

The Almera nameplate is set to make a return to Nissan's lineup as a compact-sized sedan model, which the company says has been developed exclusively for Russia and will be manufactured locally in Togliatti on an all-new production line starting from early next year.

According to the Japanese automaker, Nissan engineering teams in Japan, the UK and Russia developed the new Almera.

However, the single photo released by Nissan, suggests otherwise as the new Almera appears to be based on the second generation of the Japanese market Bluebird Sylphy that uses Nissan's B-platform and which was introduced in the country back in 2005.

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Tesla Fails Again in its Libel Suit Against Top Gear for Roadster Test

Back in December of 2008, Top Gear tested the Tesla Roadster. The Elise-based electric sports car was panned on almost every respect, from its abysmal range and overheating engine to the failed brakes.

Last March, Tesla filed a libel suit against BBC’s TV car show, claiming that the whole test was “staged” and demanded that the channel stop airing the episode while also asking for a compensation for damages.

After its first court case was dismissed in October of 2011, Tesla modified its lawsuit and gave it another shot. Unfortunately for Tesla, the lawsuit was dismissed by Mr Justice Tugendhat.

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18-wheeler Flips Over and Squashes Chevy Cruze, Driver Makes it Out Injured but Alive

A male driver of a rental Chevrolet Cruze was involved in what can only be described as a nightmare scenario for any road user when an 18-wheeler truck loaded with cardboard boxes flipped on its side and landed on top of the compact sedan.

The accident took place in the northbound lanes of the Dallas North Tollway in Texas in the late morning hours of Thursday.

The large rig also knocked over the concrete center barrier and hit another vehicle, a black Volkswagen Touareg, hurling it over the median and onto the other side of the road.

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Marchionne Says Fiat May Close Two Italian Plants if U.S. Export Plans Fail

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne may have succeeded in signing a deal with the Italian worker unions, yet decreasing demand in the struggling European market may still force him to take extreme measures.

And while Marchionne does not expect the situation in Europe to improve “at least until 2014", on the other side of the pond, he said that Chrysler's plants are already at full capacity, necessitating imports from the group’s factories in Canada, Mexico or Europe to satisfy a third of U.S. demand.

Therefore, as he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, it’s a perfect opportunity for Fiat’s Italian plants to increase their production and make up for the drop in local demand by exporting models to the States.

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Mazda3 Facelift on Sale in the UK with Prices Starting from £13,495

Mazda has released UK pricing for its updated compact hatchback that's available for orders now. The 2012 Mazda3 starts from £13,495 for the 1.6 TS model, however, the price includes a special £2,300 saving that ends on March 31. The regular OTR price will then be £14,795.

The revised five-door Mazda3 has improved aerodynamics (Cd 0.29) and is distinguished on the outside by the tweaked front fascia, new rear bumper and twist-spoke alloy wheels.

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GM Tells Carscoop No LED Tail Lamps for North American Camaro

After we posted the poll on whether you prefer the updated European market 2012 Chevrolet Camaro with its LED taillights to the original model, we sent an email over to General Motors asking if the company had any plans to apply some or all of the upgrades to the North American version.

A Chevrolet spokesperson replied in an email that the automaker has no such plans and that a number of these changes were made to the European Camaro in order to meet local regulations.

"There are some minor changes between North American Camaro and cars for export markets," a Chevrolet spokesman told Carscoop. "Often, there are even variations between markets, to meet regional requirements. And, no, these changes will not be integrated into the U.S. Camaro."

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Obama Campaign Airs 'Made in America' Ad Touting Auto Bailout

If you have been following the news in the U.S. these past few weeks, you will have no doubt noticed that all Republican presidential candidates have attacked the Obama administration for the way it handled the auto industry bailout.

Now it's time for President Obama's campaign to fight back through a new ad that will air on television this Friday but only in Michigan, ahead of the State's Republican presidential primary next week.

The ad is named "Made in America" and touts Obama's stance on the auto bailout bill while at the same time taking a jab at the GOP and especially Mitt Romney, showing the title of his November 2008 New York Times op-ed piece, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt".

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Ram Joins Chevy in Smacking Around the Ford F-150 with a New Commercial

You'll most likely remember Chevrolet's recent Super Bowl XLVI ad on the Silverado where it made fun of "Dave" who didn't make it to the rendezvous point with his friends after a post-apocalyptic catastrophe because he was driving a Ford F-150.

General Motors' move to take a swipe at the F-150 has found a follower as the Chrysler Group's Ram Trucks division has launched its own commercial poking some fun at the Ford pickup truck.

The ad starts by showing the Ram truck with a deep voice (doesn't it remind you of the garbled voices shouting "they took our jobs" in South Park?) in the background asking this question:

"What would happen if you were to take away 30-horsepower from a Ram 1500, remove 27 foot pounds of torque and subtract 40,000 miles from its powertrain limited warranty?" The same voice answers: "Well, you'd end up with a Ford F-150."

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High Prices and Limited Range Keep U.S. Buyers Away from Electric Cars

Reports of the death of the internal combustion engine have been greatly exaggerated. In 2011, hybrids and EVs like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy’s Volt made many headlines, though not always for the reasons the automakers would prefer.

The truth is that, despite all the publicity and the tax incentives, sales so far have been abysmal with Edmunds reporting that hybrids account for just 2.46 of the market and electric cars not even reaching one percent.

There are many reasons why new car buyers are not willing to shell out a lot of cash for zero-emissions vehicles. First of all, they are expensive and the gains from fuel costs come in the long-term, while the sticker price is immediately visible and clearly understood by everyone.

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2013 SRT Viper Hot Wheels Model is Indeed Real – See the Larger Picture

Last night, the web went abuzz with a pint size photo of a new Hot Wheels model allegedly depicting the upcoming 2013 SRT Viper sports coupe.

The picture was posted on Brazilian Hot Wheels enthusiast website T-Hunted alongside several other car models from the toy maker's 2012 lineup, but the news quickly spread around like wildfire to websites all over the world including Jalopnik and Autoblog.

Now, you might be wondering why we didn't post the story last night. Well, to be frank, we were not yet convinced about its authenticity so we set out to do our own research before telling you about it.

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Next Focus RS will Reportedly get a Turbocharged Four with 350HP that Might also be Used on the Mustang

The new Ford Focus ST with its 250HP 2.0-liter turbo'd four might be nice and dandy, but the Blue Oval has another surprise for hot-hatch aficionados under its sleeves: a replacement to the much acclaimed Focus RS.

Last summer, Ford green-lighted the third generation of the RS, though details remained sketchy. Now, CAR magazine has more information on the hottest production Focus yet, which is scheduled for production in 2014.

According to the publication, the new Focus RS will be powered by a new 2.3-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine that is currently under development in North America and which is also tipped to power the next-generation of the Mustang as well - though this is something that has yet to be confirmed.

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On…and-Off-Star: System Upgrade Causes Malfunctions to GM's Telematics Service

In a press statement issued on January 31, General Motors announced that its OnStar call centers receive more than 150,000 calls a day. That equates to almost two calls per second.

Yet for the past few days, some of the more than 6 million users of the telematics service have been unable to use it.

Some OnStar users reported very long waiting times while others that they received automated messages to call back later. The problem, as told by OnStar spokeswoman Cheryl McCaren on FoxNews, was caused by an upgrade to the operating system on Sunday, February 12, which affected non-emergency “Blue Button” services.

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U.S. wants to Limit Use of Distracting Infotainment Systems while Driving

Ray LaHood is the U.S. Transport Secretary. He is also a man on a mission: to reduce those driving distractions that are believed to be partially responsible for some 5,500 deaths and 500,000 injuries in 2010, accounting to almost 10 percent of all traffic deaths, according to data provided by the Department of Transportation (DoT).

Although LaHood does not support extreme measures, like completely banning hands-free calling while driving, he is determined to limit the use of any equipment that distract the driver’s attention.

“Distracted driving is a dangerous and deadly habit on America’s roadways”, said LaHood. “That’s why I’ve made it a priority to encourage people to stay focused behind the wheel.”

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Ford's New 1.0-liter Three-Cylinder EcoBoost Engine May be Soon Available with up to 177bhp!

It is amazing how the new crop of internal combustion engines have become so much more powerful yet at the same time, more fuel-efficient and greener than their predecessors of past years.

Ford's new 1.0-liter EcoBoost petrol unit is a prime example of how far automakers have gone. Despite its small capacity and proportions, the three-cylinder engine that features turbocharging, direct injection and other technologies, develops up to 123bhp, which is an impressive number in itself.

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