Articles by Paul Gover

The world's favourite sports car, the Mazda MX-5, will be new again in 2015. Not just that, but the Japanese superstar also will be twinned as an Alfa Romeo Spider in a clever copycat move - think Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ - to generate the cash for the change. The re-imagined MX-5 is expected to be much more grown-up than today's car and not just because the first scoop pictures of the coming roadster point to a model that's going to be longer, lower and wider. It also picks up SkyActiv technology for stronger performance with less fuel use. Overall, the tip is for greater refinement and a bigger cabin. Testing has just begun with inevitable hot laps at the Nurburgring, the punishing German track, for essential chassis tuning work. Carparazzi caught this MX-5 test mule during its initial track foray and the pictures indicate significant changes in the car's dimensions. The chopped-up bodywork of a current third-generation MX-5 reflects a longer nose, extra centimetres in the wheelbase and extra width in the track beneath extended arches. Wheels and brakes look much like today's items but the exhaust is a departure from the current car. The other thing that's not changing is the folding roof over a two-seater cabin, the basic recipe that's made the MX-5 an ongoing success since the original hit the road in 1989. Alfa Romeo is revealing few details about its version of the MX-5. We can surmise that it will install its own engine - perhaps a development of the 1.7-litre turbo fitted to the 4C - to give the car an Italian edge in the conventional rear-wheel drive package being revived for the 21st-century Spider. This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover  

Aussie shoppers have been crying out for the X3 rival since it first hit the road, but only with left-hand drive. The new GLK is longer and wider than the existing car and that will mean a roomier cabin when it lands in 2015 for less than a X3.  

The size and shape is much the same as the existing seven-seater with the emphasis on improving quality and refinement for passengers. 

This time it's the upcoming X4 being pounded around the Nurburgring ahead of sales in the second half of 2014.  

The tiny tearaway of the Renault Sport family has been given an early clearance for Australia. The  Clio RS 200 was originally set for touchdown by March 2014, but the first of the French pocket rockets will now become early Christmas presents with a starting price of $28,790. They have been rushed through the system at Renault Sport in Dieppe in a reflection of Australia's second place in the RS world - only beaten by the home team.The Clio 200 made an impressive impact during a Carsguide preview drive in France at the start of this year, where it emerged as a mini Godzilla, and also during track laps at Sandown in Melbourne when F1 ace Mark Webber took the wheel. The turbocharged tot even shares the aluminium shift paddles for its double-clutch gearbox with the rampaging Nissan GT-R.The Christmas confirmation comes this week as Renault Australia continues its run of success with RS Megane models, which have now been delivered to 393 owners through the end of September. "We've cut six months out of the waiting times. Renault Sport has been very supportive and we've managed to get our cars early," says Emily Ambrosy, spokesperson for Renault Australia."Supplies will be modest at first but we'll be looking to ramp things up early in the new year." The RS 200 EDC takes its name from its 200-horsepower engine - that's 147 kiloWatts, matched by 240 Newton-metres - and its six-speed Electronic Double Clutch gearbox. It also gets a taut tweaking of the basic fourth-generation Clio chassis, brakes from the V6 Laguna model, larger alloys and a leather-wrapped cabin.The original plan was to take the car with the track-tuned Cup chassis settings, but Renault Australia has decided to also take the less-extreme Sport set-up. It's a contrast to the Megane, where customer demand means there is only a Cup car. "We believe the Sport is a good drive. Yes, it is the softer option. We've talked to customers and looked at some of the competitors and believe it has a place," says Ambrosy. The last time there was a Sport chassis in the local Renault Sport lineup was back in the days of the Clio 197, in 2010.The starting price is well below the $35,000 target set earlier this year, when Renault was aiming to slightly undercut the Volkswagen Polo GTi and Skoda Fabia RS it sees as the car's toughest opposition. The $28,790 sticker applies to a Sport chassis model, with the five-door body and EDC, with details on the rest of the lineup still to be confirmed. Ambrosy believes the RS 200 will be an early sellout, based on the reaction following the preview drives this year. "We certainly have had some very strong expressions of interest, but we only open the order book this week." 

It's just a little under two years until the production line at Broadmeadows shuts down for the final time. How ironic, then, to be reminded this week that it's 100 years since Henry Ford invented the moving production line as we know it today in the motor industry. Australia's very last Ford Falcon is scheduled to be built in September of 2016, provided that sales - which improved slightly last month - justify the spending needed to keep the Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory moving down the line. Ford Australia says everything is tracking "to plan" for the moment, but it's interesting to contrast the plan for Australia with the rest of the world. Right now, the build rate at Broadmeadows is 146 cars a day. Compare that with a global build rate that means 16 vehicles are finished every single minute of every day, a pace that puts the blue oval brand on track to build more than six million vehicles in 2013. While Australia is headed for a production shutdown, Ford is still investing heavily in new production facilities. But those plants are - not surprisingly - in Russian, China, Romania, Thailand, Brazil and India. Building cars in any and all of those countries is cheaper than doing business in Australia, and there is growing demand for anything that allows people to graduate from bicycles and buses to their own car. The new-age factories are also based on producing four different models of vehicle, not two like Broadmeadows, with a target to improve efficiency by more than 30 per cent by 2017. So it's no surprise that Broadmeadows has been left behind, and not just because the Falcon is a long way from a first-choice pick for showroom shoppers. Looking back, Henry Ford's work on the moving production line was arguably the single biggest breakthrough in the history of motoring. His assembly line - which was partly modelled on the disassembly lines used in abbatoirs - allowed cars to be built more quickly, more easily, with far greater accuracy, and at an affordable price. There are plenty of good stories about the Model T production line, but my favourite one is about the packing crates used to carry engines to the line. Instead of being thrown away or burned, the crates were then broken down and used for floorboards in the cars - not to cut waste but because old Henry knew it was cheaper. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover  

There's been a long stall on new product at Mitsubishi, which has meant the Pajero is into its dotage, the Lancer is nothing special, there is no sign of a new Evo and the only thing fresh in showrooms is a Colt with regrets.  But, perhaps things are about to change. Mitsubishi is finally about to unveil its cars for the future, including the overdue replacement for the Pajero. It has three concept cars preened and polished for the Tokyo Motor Show next month and, to our eyes, they look like the new Pajero, the next ASX and an all-new crossover in the Toyota Kluger class. There is only a single picture and it doesn't reveal much, but at least it's proof that something is happening. Of course, because Mitsubishi is Mitsubishi and because the Tokyo show is in Japan, the concepts carry silly names. There is the Concept GC-PHEV, the Concept XR-PHEV and the Concept AR. For what that's worth. Not just that, but the GC and XR - think Pajero and ASX - each has a plug-in electric hybrid drive package. It's been promised for years, but shows few signs of making the road inside the next couple of years. Also, Mitsubishi is billing its whole Tokyo show program under the banner @earthphilosophy. It's all about green and sustainable motoring. This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover  

It's taking the basics from the 500X to create a new crossover in a similar program to the one for the latest Cherokee, which is built up from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.This 'Jeep Junior' prototype is clearly cannibalised from the 500L and the Carparazzi picture shows the extra ground clearance - if little else - that will carry through to production, most likely in the back half of next year with Australian sales in 2015. It is likely to be priced under $30,000.

It shares its mechanical package with the next Smart ForTwo, which could trim the price enough to be competitive down under following an official reveal at next year's Paris motor show.

The luxury brand plans to use its FAST car - the Family Activity Sports Tourer - as the bait below the existing 1 Series and X1.