Topgear News

As if adding a thrilling new sports car to the line-up isn’t keeping Jaguar’s stylists busy enough, the firm is also working hard to rejuvenate its entire range.

The most important model in the company’s extensive development plan is an all-new version of the S-Type, caught testing in this week’s mag. The next XK is also due on sale soon - but it seems the future of the X-Type is hanging in the balance.

They’re so close to the action, they can see the whites of the driver’s eyes! This is street racing with a difference, because the modified cars screaming around town don’t belong to boy racers, but to professionals.

The main teams from the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) descended on Milton Keynes, Bucks, for a demonstration event, wowing a crowd of more than 10,000 fans.

Vauxhall VXRacing, Team Halfords and SEAT Sport UK were in attendance, with Yvan Muller, Matt Neal and Jason Plato respectively piloting their awesome 300bhp machines along a narrow tarmac course in the town centre.

There’s no stopping the VW Group. It has set new standards in the supercar class with the Bugatti Veyron, driven in issue 876, and now it’s doing the same in the hot hatch market, raising the pace to once unimaginable levels.

Heavy hitters in the shape of the firm’s own Golf GTI and Vauxhall’s Astra VXR had seemingly pushed previously mild-mannered family cars to the limit. But now, the most potent of them all has arrived - the Golf R32.

Say hello to the fastest-ever Fiat! It’s a performance version of the new Fiat Grande Punto, developed by the Italian car maker’s in-house tuning division, Abarth. Ignore the motorsport decals - a roadgoing version will hit the showrooms in 2007.

The car debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and is officially called the Rally Super 2000. It will compete in various national and international championships in the future. Powered by a 2.0-litre powerplant, the four-wheel-drive machine develops around 280bhp.

What took more than 126 million man-hours to create, but only takes 30 milliseconds to operate? Jaguar’s new pop-up bonnet, that’s what.

But the XK is not the only car to feature the development; the Jag is one of three new models set for launch in 2006 with the gadget. The others are the Citroen C6 and Honda’s new Legend, and the race is on to get the new technology into the showroom first. On sale early next year, the Jaguar and Citroen are joint favourites, with the Honda not due until July.

Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. says it intends to expand its product lines to include low-pressure cast aluminum wheels for commercial truck and trailer customers. Current plans are to have several truck wheel designs and dimensions on the market in 2006. Products for the European markets will be produced at the company’s Dello facility in Italy where it currently houses its European R&D centre for aluminium wheels. In North America, aluminium truck wheels will be produced at the company’s Gainesville, Georgia facility, where a specific OE truck programme is also scheduled to launch in 2006.

Supercars and stunning concepts may be the crowd-pleasers at Frankfurt, but the most exciting sight for many potential buyers was the huge number of new superminis on display.

Completely new models included Fiat’s Grande Punto, the Renault Clio, Toyota’s Yaris and the VW Fox. They were joined by revised versions of Ford’s Fiesta and Fusion, the Citroen C3 and Hyundai’s Getz. Together, the newcomers account for more than 60 per cent of the UK’s small car market.

There were also a host of concepts pointing the way to future small vehicles, including Peugeot’s 20Cup and the Mazda Sassou. And of course, the stunning MINI Traveller, previewed elsewhere.