Audi’s upcoming A3 may represent a certain amount of a break from recent Audi strategy, but as new sketches of the compact luxury car emerge, it’s clear that Audi isn’t taking any steps into the unknown with its design. Park this sketch next to a new A6, and the only difference appears to be some extra nose and rear deck. I suppose that if the fashion gods are smiling upon you, as they seem to be smiling upon Audi these days, you keep your designs consistent and conservative. But with Mercedes-Benz breaking out of the “one sausage, different lengths” mold and throwing funky, expressive hatches into the A3’s competitive space, shouldn’t Audi be trying a little harder to beat off the oldest trap in German luxury sedan styling?

TTAC’s resident Volvo freak ALex Dykes points us to some first images of Volvo’s updated V70, which boasts a new interior and an updated exterior. There will be new engines for Europe, as well as a few new features like rear-seat entertainment and the City Safety system, but it’s a mild change. Is it enough to get the V70 off of Volvo’s North American kill list? Hit the jump for more pictures, and a graph of Volvo’s March US sales for a look at the challenge Volvo is facing in this country.

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This isn’t the first time Mercedes has rolled out a front-drive design, but for the first time it’s creating a flood of transverse-engined cars that won’t be limited to Europe, but are intended to conquer the whole world. And this, the concept version of the forthcoming Mercedes A Class, previews one of the most important bodystyles of Benz’s front-drive offensive, the “family hatch.” But as important as this funky Audi A3-fighting hatch is to the global fight for front-drive luxury acceptance, it does not appear to be headed stateside.

Thanks to Mercedes’ exquisite sensitivity to “American tastes” (pronounced with a slight shudder in the original German), we’ll only be getting sedan, “sporty coupe” and (sigh) crossover versions of this platform. Two liter engines (think 150-200 HP), and dual clutch transmissions should motivate US versions when they launch next year, and eventually a turbocharged 320 HP AWD “STI by AMG” version should become available. Just try to stop using the phrase “wrong wheel drive” in front of the local Mercedes dealer.

The evolution of Subaru’s design (if, indeed evolution is the right word) is one of those topics that never ceases to draw the interest of the auto-obsessed. Unlike most mainstream car brands, Subaru created a hard-core fanbase on the strength of its unique greasy bits, specifically its distinctive commitment to boxer engines and AWD. In Subaru’s formative years on the market, wacky and ever-changing designs were something the fans learned to live with.

Now, however, with Subaru breaking into the mass market’s consciousness, its design is gradually becoming more consistent and more mainstream, a trend that this first shot of the 2012 Impreza seems unlikely to roll back. And with 36 highway MPG reportedly on tap for the next Impreza, Subaru is reeling in its fuel economy disadvantage as well. The only question: does each evolution towards consistency and mass appeal continue to alienate that fanbase? And if so, does it matter?

According to Lexus

The LF-Gh, which stands for Lexus Future Grand Touring Hybrid, sets out to redefine the premium grand touring sedan. Through this exercise, the definition of L-Finesse, the marque’s design philosophy since 2001, has been refined and evolved to include a bolder, more distinct projection of what a luxury car could become in a modern world. The result is the LF-Gh concept, which conveys original thoughts and ideas that may migrate to future Lexus vehicles on a global scale.

From these teasers, it’s hard to tell what Lexus’s “spindle grille” actually looks like, but the brand says it “hints at the new face of Lexus vehicles.” If nothing else, Lexus seems to be diverging from its arch-conservative stylistic roots, a move that will be interesting to watch given Toyota’s history of success with a substance-over-style strategy.

Like much of the automotive media, we were under the impression that Nissan was replacing its Versa/Tiida with the new Nissan Sunny model that recently debuted in China. The first cracks in that theory started to appear when we saw an updated Versa with a 1.6 DIG Turbo badge on its intact rear hatch. Now, thanks to Burlappcars.com, we have our first look at the rest of the new Versa. The new model keeps the Versa’s big-box appeal, while updating the look for a more sleek, modern aesthetic. It’s a restrained, conservative look, but then the current Versa dominates its segment despite its downright dowdy styling. As long as this new model keeps the Versa’s giant interior space (it’s a B-Segment car with EPA midsize-rated interior volume), its updated styling (and the option of the Juke’s delightful little direct-injected turbo engine) should keep the Versa at the top of its segment.

The greatest thing about the Nissan Juke is its absolute peach of an engine, a 1.6 liter, direct-injected, turbocharged little screamer. In fact it’s such a wickedly fun little engine that it’s a shame it exists only in a polarizing vehicle like the Juke. To that end, I noted in my review of Nissan’s funky “sportcross” that

Without the marketers, it’s tempting to believe that Nissan’s engineers would have widened the Versa platform, added the fantastic turbocharged engine, and then decided to simply put a steroidal Versa body on top, creating the king of all B-segment hot hatches.

Well, according to this shot from China Car Times, at least part of that fantasy is coming true. In this first shot of an updated “2011/2012” Tiida (Versa), you can see the phrase “DIG Turbo” gracing its flanks, suggesting that the Juke’s little 188 HP mill (or, at least a detuned version of same) could be headed to the next-gen Versa. Does this mean a high-po “GTI”-style variant is coming to America’s best-selling B-segment car? Let’s hope so. Frankly, the more vehicles that get that feisty little engine, the better. [Awesome “Engine porn” video for Nissan’s 1.6 DIG Turbo after the jump]

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Good news! Google Maps will now point you to the nearest “electric car charging station” if you search for same, reports CR.

[Google] is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which is developing a database of available charging stations (known as EVSEs, or electric vehicle supply equipment) around the United States. Installers of EVSEs have the option of having their stations displayed as public. When we were charging the Nissan Leaf at our facility, not a public venue, our chargers showed up on the Leaf’s navigation system; The navi in the Leaf is designed to remember sites at which it had been charged.

The bad news? Well, just look at that map. Unless you live in California, you don’t need Google to tell you where the nearest charging station is, you need a clairvoyant to tell you where one might someday be built. If you’re still struggling to understand why EVs need to be tested on a local level before the federal government spends more money subsidizing them on a national level, look no further.
[UPDATE: The screen grab above is not comprehensive. Surf over Google Maps for a closer look at EV charging stations in your area]

“Fine. You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”

-Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight

What is it about human nature that forces us to destroy the things we love the most? Jaguar’s E-Type died long ago, shuffling off this imperfect mortal coil to take its place in automotive Valhalla. And, if we really loved the XKE, that’s where we’d let it stay, swathed in the immortality of the glorious yet out-of-reach past. Instead the E-Type is being destroyed in the name of love… and on the 50th anniversary of its birth, no less. For between €500k and €1m (depending on the number of takers) Switzerland’s Robert Palm will modify a new Jaguar XKR into this hollow mockery of the E-Type’s epic proportions and classic design cues. Called the Growler E 2011, this 600 HP beast is neither a high-quality, faithful resto-mod like the Eagle E-Type, nor a truly modern interpretation of the classic. Instead, what we have here is a wire-wheeled lesson in learning to let go.

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a bus crash on New York’s I-95, but it’s clear from these photos [via ABC] what caused many of the 14 fatalities in the crash: a sign warning motorists of red-light photo enforcement is what appears to have ripped the bus in half. Now, as much as we dislike photo enforcement, we wouldn’t argue that the sign caused this tragedy… but the irony of a sign intended to improve safety actually becoming a deadly obstacle is more than we can ignore.

When we first heard that the updated Jeep Compass would be “Trail Rated,” a number of commenters pointed out that the term “Trail Rated” is little more than a Jeep marketing phrase, and argued that the Compass had no business pretending to be a true off-roader. Well, according to this picture, which Michael Karesh found on Jeep’s website, the upgraded Compass will even go so far as to offer that talisman of off-road capability, a solid front axle. Unless, of course, this is actually a misplaced picture of a Wrangler, which it almost certainly is. Oh well…

China’s FAW-Volkswagen joint venture is celebrating twenty years and two million units of the Volkswagen Jetta III, with a “2 million” special edition featuring “special paint and a more luxurious interior” according to thetycho.com. But will the Two Million Edition swath the aged Jetta with even more luxury than the Jetta Millionaire Edition?And when, if ever, will they stop making the old MkIII Jetta? Actually, considering that base versions of the brand new Jetta feature drum brakes, torsion bar rear suspension and ancient, underpowered engines, FAW-VW might just keep the original cranking out for a good while longer.

The combined forces of Sire Custom Performance and Autoblog: 1

Irony: 0

Ever since Toyota and Subaru announced they would be building a rear-drive sports coupe together, one question has torn the Subaru faithful apart, casting their forums and message boards into an dark age of strife and conflict. That question: will the Subaru version retain the brand’s signature all-wheel-drive? Since the car’s running gear is Subaru Legacy based (or, it was to start with), it should have been obvious from the get-go that the Subaru version would rotate all four wheels. But, as these images from the Autoguide‘s coverage of the Geneva Auto Show reveal, Subaru seems to have deliberately played up the confusion. While calling its display a “concept model of Subaru’s rear-wheel-drive sports car now under development,” the display even says “its new platform incorporates Subaru’s signature Symmetrical AWD.” Confused yet?

The interior on the right belongs to the 2011 Honda Civic. The interior on the left belongs to the new 2012 Civic. Apparently they just left the older one out in the sun for a while, causing it to melt and sag.