Articles by Paul Gover

The Boxster and Cayman will also be re-made to reflect the changes in a car that has been completely re-worked and revitalised under familiar skin. The 2012 Porsche 911 has everything from tweaked bodywork to upgraded and uprated engines and transmissions, as well as the promise of a hybrid powerpack further down the road. The basic 911 Carrera rises by around $6000 for the start of Australian sales next year and the Carrera S is up by around $10,000, or $1000 for each of the 10 centimetres added to the length of the car's extended wheelbase. The price increase - which pegs the bottom line at $229,900 for the Carrera and $263,100 for the S - are defended by Porsche. "Obviously the question arises on price increases. It was a decision that was made globally that in every market the prices go up 2.9 and 3.9 per cent respectively," says Michael Winkler, managing director of Porsche Cars Australia. Porsche fanatics are already queuing for the car, which will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show - following these first pictures - with a Carsguide preview drive in the USA in November. "It's another huge step forward. The car is 95 per cent new," says Winkler. "It's not just one generation, it's a two-generation leap. There is carryover stuff like the steering wheel and knobs here and there, but only little things. All the sheetmetal is new. It's an entirely new platform and an entirley new car." Porsche plans a predictable rollout of 911 models over the next 18 months, culminating in the force-fed Turbo and super-quick GT2 as well as the Cabriolet. It's not saying anything yet, though, about the hybrid. The promise for the 991 series is a range of cars that are sleeker, a little larger and lighter, more powerful and faster, with lower emissions and less thirst. There are seven-speed gearboxes and more punch from the 3.8-litre flat six taking the basic engine to 257 kiloWatts and the S up to 294 with a 0-100km/h sprint time as low as 4.1 seconds. The shape of the new 911 is classic Porsche, with bigger round headlamps in the nose and mirrors moved to the doors to improve visibility and cut wind noise. Inside, the cabin has been given the Panamera treatment to lift the perception of quality and tie the 911 more closely to the non-sports cars in the Porsche family. Winkler says the only way to appreciate the new 911 is - not surprisingly - to take a test drive. "It's an accumulation of the small things. It's a Porsche trademark, that the end result is more than just the sum of the parts," he says. He hints that the next-generation Boxster and Cayman will follow with a preview in 2012 before local sales in 2013. "The cars, as always, are a good year apart. it would be a logical assumption." Sales of the latest 911 are slowing through its runout year but Winkler still expects around 300 deliveries, with a big kick in 2012 that will be closer to 400 cars. But he's not predicting a record, as Porsche managed 600 in 2008 off the back of the simultaneous local arrival of the GT3 and Turbo models.

The all-new 2013 Range Rover will come with a new, lightweight body and the brand’s first hybrid drive-train.Joint development with Jaguar points to an aluminium chassis that will also be used on the coming XE sportster.Expect the next Range Rover to be up to 400kg lighter and the start of a futuristic new-model push – despite camo pinched from World War I British warships.

for the new BMW M3 when it’s revealed early next year.The German brand is set for a public launch of its all-new 3 Series towards the end of October.Sales in Australia start early next year.

The open-topped version of the current monster 410kW coupe is not expected to go public until early next year, for the start of the spring buying season in Europe.

The McLaren MP4-12C tops the list of Dad's dream cars.

When it comes to used dream cars, the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III takes the cake.

The latest Lexus GS leads the way, as well as the style direction, for a brand that has been personally tweaked by the very top man at Toyota. Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company founder and a keen amateur racer, says he planned to cull the GS before forcing a massive change for a car that now carries his personal fingerprints."Initially, I did not want to proceed with this project. I told our engineers that we are not moving ahead unless we do it right from the start," says Toyoda, speaking at the global GS preview in the USA. The car had to be improved much more. It needed to be designed, engineered and manufactured without compromise."The result - proven by an exclusive Carsguide preview drive in Los Angeles - is a car that has lost the fuddy-duddy feel of the previous GS and is much more likely to be shopped against a 5-Series BMW.We cannot be sure until it reaches Australia, but it reflects some fresh thinking and track work at the Nurburgring - including hot laps by Toyoda. He says the GS previews a range of changes at Lexus, from the new family grille for the upscale brand to more emphasis on driving enjoyment."Our vision is that Lexus becomes the best, not the biggest," Toyoda says. "Simply put, we have internationalized Lexus. In fact, Lexus is leading the way in how the entire Toyota Motor Corporation should operate. "There are no extra layers, this new division reports directly to me and I have given them autonomy over business decisions. This allows the team to react quicker to customers' needs and desires. This internal process is unique from any other division at TMC and I am very pleased with this new direction."Toyoda says the new nose on the GS - officially the 'spindle grille' but more like Darth Vader's helmet - will migrate quickly to the rest of the range. "It had to be bolder, stronger, and more confident," he says. "And this is just the beginning. Next year, Lexus will launch nine new or updated vehicles. And we have many more in development. 

Fathers and sons have shared success for generations through business and motorsport connections at the very highest level. The Ford family is the best example, with power at the blue oval passing through four generations from Henry Ford through to his grandson William Clay Ford, but there are also three generations of Brabham-family racers and a huge number of second-generation racers now filling the grids in V8 Supercar racing. 1. The Ford family Henry Ford is widely credited with putting the world on wheels and helping drive the Detroit dynamo that transformed motoring. He passed power to his son, but he was Henry Ford II who really revitalised the family business that now sees Edsel II and William as board members. 2. Damon and Graham Hill The first - and, so far, only - family to win Formula One world championships in two generations, with Graham taking the crown in 1962 with BRM and 1968 with Lotus and his son Damon doing the job in 1996 with Williams. 3. Matthew, Geoff and Jack Brabham Sir Jack's sons Geoff, Gary and David all raced with some success - Geoff and David both winning the Le Mans 24-hours - although none remotely matched their father's three F1 world titles. Now Matthew, son of Geoff, is doing the job and won a round of the Australian Formula Ford championship earlier this year. 4. Steven and Dick Johnson Five-time Australian touring car champion Dick stretched his time at Bathurst so he could share a Falcon at Mount Panorama with his son. 'Junior' is now an established V8 Supercar front-runner although he is yet to approach the victory total of his dad. 5. Marco, Michael and Mario Andretti Another three-generation dynasty of racers, this time from the USA. Mario was a Formula One world champion and Indianapolis winner, Michael won the Champ Car series but was struck by the 'Andretti Curse' and never won Indy. His son Marco is a current IndyCar racer still also looking for an Indy breakthrough. 6. Steven and Jim Richards Both Bathurst 1000 winners and long-term professional racers at the top line in Australia. 'Gentleman' Jim is still a regular winner in his sixties in historic touring cars and Steven is up at the front in Carrera Cup Porsches after losing his fulltime V8 Supercar drive at the end of 2010. 7. The Porsche family Ferry Porsche was a gifted automotive engineer who was responsible for the original Volkswagen before setting up the company that carries his name. Porsche is now into its fourth generation of motoring with Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of the Porsche founder, controlling the VW Group that now owns the sports car company. 8. Piero and Enzo Ferrari Enzo Ferrari was one of the titans of the motor industry thanks to his team's many Formula One victories and the successful cars created by his sports car company. His only living son now has a minority share in Ferrari and is a senior executive in the brand that carries the prancing horse as its symbol. 9. Craig and Frank Lowndes The most popular driver in V8 Supercar racing was given a head start by his father Frank, a one-time mechanic with the Holden Dealer Team. He was never a driver but Frank continues in motorsport as Craig adds to a record that includes three touring car championships and five victories at Bathurst. 10. The Davison family Current V8 Supercar drivers Will and Alex Davison are the third generation of their family to race, following a tradition begun by their grandfather Lex - a four-time winner of the Australian Grand Prix. His sons Jon and Chris both raced, and Jon managed the Sandown circuit, before Will, Alex and their cousin James all took to the track.

...not just part of the Holden line-up — Opel could easily bring a new price fighter Down Under. It’s currently codenamed Junior and intended to slot in under the Astra and Corsa, with the same sort of appeal as the Mini. ‘‘It’s a chic and stylish minicar that fits with today’s hip, urban spirit,’’ says Opel boss Nick Reilly. It’s still under wraps in this Carparazzi shot but likely to break cover at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

The newcomer is essentially and deeply British, but it took an Australian to guide it successfully from a pretty picture and a nice idea into a showroom reality. The man behind the Evoque is Murray Dietsch, a highly-talented engineeer who began at Broadmeadows in Ford Australia but has now broadened his ability to a global post as head of new-model programs at Land Rover. "It's my baby. Obviously, a lot of other people have worked on it, but it's my baby," Dietsch tells Carsguide following a preview drive in Wales and England. He took the LRX concept car developed by Land Rover and turned it into the Evoque, complete with the off-road credentials to justify a Range Rover badge. "It's got the practicality about it. But it's cool," he says. "It's pretty good that we've stayed so faithful to the LRX concept car. Having the concept car so early in the program was the catalystfor the final product, and it gave everyone a dead focal point on what we had to deliver." The end result looks good - with both three and five-door SUV bodies - but Dietsch says the Evoque always needed to be more. "It's got to be authentic. We couldn't put a car on the road and then not have it perform the way you expect it to perform as a Land Rover or Range Rover. Put it up against anthing it would come close to in its class and it will rings around it." Still, he knows Evoque is a potential game-changer for Land Rover. "It's taken us into an area where we've never been," Dietsch says. And there will be an overall benefit for the brand, as governments around the world take a closer look at average emissions and economy. "Evoque gives people the excuse to not worry about the social stigma of an SUV. Building smaller, lighter vehicles is a big enabler for us. Lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles are what we're working on." And is there anything that's missing, that he would like to add to the Evoque? "Yeah, another body style. I'd like to do one without a roof," Dietsch says.