The 6,000sqm interactive stand features four ‘sensory labs’ designed to highlight Ford’s quality and innovation, and demonstrate the work that goes into each Ford car.

There will be a zone dedicated to each sense with visitors to the stand able to get involved with hands on demonstrations. Outside there will be a 2,800sqm track with six of Ford’s cars available to test drive. A further 30 Fords will be displayed on the main stand, which has been designed and made by Imagination.

“The stand design for Frankfurt allows visitors to interact with Ford cars the way they want to, to feel firsthand the quality of Ford’s design and manufacturing and to deliver a memorable experience for car enthusiasts and first time visitors alike,” said Imagination’s Creative Director, Jordan Waid.

The ST performance versions of the new Ford Fiesta Colchester and Focus will be joined by a concept car that has been dubbed the ‘Kinetic 2.0’. The concept showcases Ford’s ‘latest family-look’ but is unlikely to be launched as a production model until 2014.  The production model of the  B-MAX, which saw its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, will also be at Frankfurt.

The new Scagliarini 504 Coupe Zagato Elaborata (bit of a mouth full!) has been made by American-based Scagliarini Motorsports. The 4WD drive version of the Zagato is built on the Abarth 500 chassis and uses the 4×4 components from the Panda.

The one off 500 features a specially designed carbon fibre kit by Scagliarini and was built to celebrate ‘150 years of Italian agglomeration’. Abarth Alcantara seats, Brembo brakes and Ragazzon performance exhaust are the final touches.

Managing director of Scagliarini Motorsports, Michael Salvarini commented: “With the Scagliarini 504 Coupe Zagato Elaborata we have established Scagliarini Motorsports on the world-stage proper.” Shame he can’t speak ‘proper’. Critics have suggested the filled rear windows give the Scagliarini 504 Coupe a van like appearance, make it a full blown Abarth and I reckon that would sell like hot cakes at Abarth dealers!

No changes have been made to the powertrain, with the Chrome Outlander powered by the same 2.4 litre petrol engine as the standard model. The Outlander has failed to excite Indian buyers, where elsewhere in the world the Outlander is available with a choice of diesel engines.

Hindustan Motors, Mitsubishi’s Indian partner and Mitsubishi are struggling to compete with other players in the emerging Indian automotive market. The Japanese manufacturer hope the addition of new models to its Indian portfolio will entice new buyers. There are plans to launch a complete new generation of sports utility vehicle, an upgraded Montero and a seven-seat Outlander in the near future. The Mitsubishi in Somerset is already available in a seven seater version.

Having a backend akin to the KA and a frankly bland shape aren’t exactly selling points, especially with the premium price tag that is likely to be attached. The MINI and Fiat 500 are popular because they are ‘iconic’ cars and although the Audi A1 isn’t very inspiring either at least it has the badge to match the price tag.

Vauxhall nearly scrapped the idea of the small city car a few years ago to concentrate on other areas but European CEO Nick Reilly convinced GM that the demand for cars like the MINI and 500 was high. And demand is high for the MINI and 500, but is there room for an overpriced Kia Picanto?

The production model will lose the Junior name with the real name expected to be released when the car is unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. Will have to wait to see the car in the flesh but I think Vauxhall should stick to what they know- cars like the Vauxhall Insignia or Corsa.

Check out Autocar’s renderings here.

The new model will replace the 2007 i30 which was the first Hyundai designed and built in Europe; the all- new i30 has been designed and engineered at the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany. The i30 follows in the footsteps of the i40 Tourer which reflect Hyundai’s defining‘ fluidic sculpture’ design language.

“When designing the new i30, we used strong, fluid lines to sculpt a car which looks athletic while exuding a sense of constant motion, even when stationary,” said Hyundai’s chief designer Thomas Bürkle.

“From the rendering, you can see how we managed to give the car a bold stance, transmitting a confident attitude through sporty characteristics and dynamic proportions. In this way, the car is very close to the recently unveiled i40, and we want people to recognise the Hyundai design DNA on those two models.”

Nearly 350,00 of the current i30 have been sold in Europe since its launch 4 years ago, and Focus rival is set to refresh the lineup.

Hyundai have yet to release any details of the new i30 with details on powertrains expected to be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Prices at your local Hyundai dealer will be similar to that of the current i30.

Peugeot 308 CC

The Peugeot 308 CC 1.6 e-HDI FAP 112 does around 60.1 mpg on mixed driving and only emits 123g/km of CO2 which is impressive for such a large vehicle!

Audi A3 Cabriolet

Choose the 1.6 TDI 105 option and you can expect 65.7mpg and are promised 114g/km of CO2. At £20,000 it’s not the cheapest choice though!

Fiat 500C

 The 0.9 TwinAir model emits less than 100g/km of CO2 which means it’s exempt from road tax. Expect around 68.9 mpg on mixed driving. The 500C will set you back about £1,500 more than a standard Fiat 500 in Slough.

Mini Convertible

The 1.6D 112 Cooper D delivers 70.6 mpg and CO2 emissions as low as 105g/km. It costs around £18,000.

Smart Fortwo Cabrio

The Smart Fortwo 0.8 cdi Cabrio only has a tiny three-cylinder engine which means it delivers a combined fuel economy of 85.6 mpg making it the most frugal choice.

Nissan claim viewers were misled as the car was fully charged, with enough power to do 100 miles, when given to the show. A monitoring system showed the car had been driven in loops around Lincoln to flatten the battery prior to the test so was only charged at 40% when the presenter set off on the 60 mile trip. Clarkson, who has said electric cars are ‘not the future’, has been accused of deliberately diverting to Lincoln knowing there were no charging points there.

A Top Gear spokeswoman told the Times: “The point of the film was to show how bad the charging infrastructure is in the UK. The car needed to run out of charge so that could be demonstrated. Since we weren’t testing the range claims, it made no difference how much charge we started with. We don’t say how much petrol went into a car when it started a journey.”

Andy Palmer, Nissan’s executive vice-president, has said that the new Nissan Leaf’s sat-nav tells the drivers if they do not have enough power to reach their destination and would have displayed a range of only 30 miles on the dash.

 It’s not that first time the show has got into trouble over its portrayal of an electric vehicle; in March 2011 Tesla sued Top Gear for showing the electric Roadster running out of power and breaking down.

The show were also criticised for parking in disabled bays whilst filming the Nissan Leaf programme.

According to the stats there was just a 9% chance of a Honda car developing a fault within a year.  The second most reliable manufacturer was Toyota which had a 15% chance.
In all it was the Japanese brands which dominated the top ten – with Mitsubishi, Mazda and Subaru all making an appearance.

The study looked at a variety of factors including the cost to fix the model and the cost of the parts. They looked at vehicles which were aged  between 3 and 8 years old.

It was the European cars which dominated the most un-reliable list and surprisingly it was Land Rover which was named as ‘least trustworthy maker’. If you buy a Land Rover apparently there is a 55% chance of it going wrong within a 12 month period.

Which cars do you find to be the most reliable?

How it Works

The Ampera is not your typical hybrid- the extended range vehicle only uses its 1.4 litre petrol engine to top up the 148bhp battery.  Once the battery’s power runs out, after between 25 and 50 miles, the petrol engine kicks in firing up the generator which in turn charges the battery. So unlike hybrids which rely on the engine to power the wheels when the battery power has depleted, the Ampera only uses the petrol engine to charge up the battery.  

The Selling Points

The Ampera has been designed to reduce the range anxiety normally associated with EVs. The typical driver in Europe only drives around 25 miles a day or less, according to Vauxhall, so the 25-50 miles that the automaker have estimated should be plenty for the average driver. For when longer journeys are required an extended range of 310 miles is promised, significantly more than any EV on the market. Since the Ampera relies on battery power it emits just 40g/km and can potentially do 175 miles per gallon.

The Downside

Although Vauxhall have said a full charge will take just 4 hours from a 230V socket, critics have suggested this isn’t possible. Since household socket supply a maximum of 3kW a full charge would take from 5 hours 20 to 7 hours 16 according to one critic. And it looks like Vauxhall’s optimistic emission and fuel economy figures aren’t all black and white either.  Ben Rose of the Jaffa’s Juicy Bits blog has suggested the figures are more likely to be 112.5g/km and 40-45mpg when you consider the UK National Grid emissions.

The Ampera isn’t cheap either; there are no new Vauxhall deals available and the Ampera will set you back £28,995, even after the £5,000 plug in grant has been added.

Despite all the skepticism Vauxhall are confident the Ampera will do well in the UK and have increased sales targets after a high level of interest from fleet buyers. Vauxhall predicted they would sell 3,000 Amperas in the UK in 2012, but have since increased this target to 5,000.

The Ampera will be first rolled out in Holland, then France and Germany and will be available in the UK from  March next year, by which time 23 specialist dealers will be prepped for the launch.

Ford’s good news doesn’t end there either as the new Ford Focus has also won two NCAP Advanced rewards, for its Active City Stop and Lane Keeping Aid technologies…which means that drivers can relax knowing that they are travelling in one of the safest cars on the road.

Active City Stop is a new feature which makes the car brake automatically as it monitors the road to see if a crash is imminent.

It certainly looks as though Ford have been busy developing  a whole host of new safety features to make their cars safer than ever!