Spy Shots

The Falcon and Territory might be on death row, but that doesn't mean it's game over at Ford Australia. Work is still underway on dozens of projects at Ford's local engineering base, including the headlining SUV that will eventually cap the T6 program.The award-winning Ford Ranger - and its Mazda BT50 twin - was the first product of the T6 work and now the SUV is being fast-tracked for production in 2014. It is believed to be a seven-seater that's bigger than the Territory, packing the punch to go up against the best in class, both in Australia and around the Asia-Pacific region.Its Australian roots could even mean it wears Endeavour badges in showrooms, although it's also known as Everest. This development car is caught this week by Jackson Emiris, a smartphone-wielding Carsguide reader driving along the Princess Highway near Avalon, just outside Melbourne."It seemed to be a Ford Territory cross Ford Ranger," says Emiris. "On the back of the car it read 'Left Hand Drive' and 'Engineering Evaluation Vehicle'." The car clearly has Ranger roots, carrying the pickup's front end back to the rear of the front seats. But, from there back it has been mated with a Territory tail to provide the extra back-end space that will bring SUV buyers to the car.These images all but confirm that the model will ride on a shorter wheelbase than the ute, unlike previous Thai-built Ranger spinoff wagons. A similar approach has been used by General Motors with its Colorado 7, with the shorter wheelbase improving manoevrability and off-road clearance over the longer ute variants.Ford has also carefully obscured this prototype's rear suspension, disguising a likely move to a coil-sprung live setup -- also like the Colorado 7.Carsguide can confirm it's one of a run of prototypes that are being tested and developed in Victoria, both at Ford Australia's proving ground at You Yangs and on public roads. They have been up and running for a number of months, pointing to a public reveal sometime in the second half of 2014."Ford has always said the Ranger pickup would be the first of the vehicles to come off the T6 platform," confirms Neil McDonald of Ford Australia. "The Ranger pickup is the first 'top hat' of that platform. However, at this stage we cannot provide any further specifics as to timing or features."The Endeavour, if it is called that, will join the 22 ute models already spun from the Ranger platform, including the latest XLS.The success of the T6 project is reflected in class leading comfort, refinement and safety, as well as waiting lists for some models including the Ranger Wildtrak that is backed up several months as customers wait for deliveries from the Ford factory in Thailand that produces Australia's new Ford baby.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Opel has announced that its Mokka compact SUV is on its way to Australia just a few months after going on sale in Europe. The Mokka will hit showrooms here “in the third quarter of this year”, although Opel won’t be more specific about timing at this stage. But they’ll be out and about on local roads from June – tempting budding spy photographers. Opel Australia’s managing director, Bill Mott says the Mokka will be very welcome Down Under. “We are very excited to bring the Mokka to Australia. This car has already had in excess of 100,000 orders in Europe since launch, and with the Australian SUV segment growing 22 per cent in the last 12 months it is certainly a space we want to be playing in. “We will have a number of Mokkas on the road from next month for local testing.” Opel marketing and public relations head Michelle Lang says engineers will be running a test fleet “for in-depth familiarisation for staff and dealers, prior to the production vehicles arriving. “We are really excited about the early arrival of our Mokkas, and hope to see lots of spy shots of them out on the roads in Melbourne -- hopefully not obscured by torrential rain,” Lang says. We witnessed its global debut of the Opel Mokka at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012 and liked its positive stance and bold lines. It has a sculpted body in keeping with the latest thinking in this fast growing market segment. Opel says Mokka has been given a sporty edge with well-defined lines. However, we have yet to see one on the road so won’t make our final appraisal for a few months. The interior of the new Mokka centres around a wing-shaped instrument panel that blends around the door inserts and the sculpted surfaces in the doors. The Mokka will be launched in Australia with a turbocharged 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. This engine is familiar to Australian drivers of the Holden Cruze and is one of our favourite powerplants.  A turbodiesel is an option in the Mokka in other markets and may come to Australia later. In keeping with most SUVs these days it will be available with either front-wheel drive or 4WD. The latter using Opel’s adaptive all-wheel drive technology which should give it some decent ability on unsealed surfaces. Safety has obviously ranked high in the priority decisions during the earliest design stages and life saving features include Opel’s adaptive forward lighting system (AFL+); electronic stability program ESPPlus;  Hill Start Assist; and Hill Descent Control. Second-generation Opel Eye front camera with Forward Collision Alert and Lane Departure Warning functions are the sort of features normally found on expensive upmarket cars. Exactly which of these safety items will be fitted to which Mokka model in Australia is still to be finalised. However, the importer has already stated that reversing cameras will be fitted to every model. The Opel Mokka is a five-star Euro NCAP vehicle. Full specification and pricing for the Mokka will be released closer to launch. Though still a newcomer in Australia, Opel is big in Europe and was the fourth largest automotive brand in that area in 2011, with over 1.2 million vehicles sold. Many Opels with Holden badges (Barina, Astra, Vectra amongst others) have been sold in this country in past decades.  

...The big question now is whether the cabin contains seven seats or if the extra space is just translated into extra back-seat legroom. This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover

...Volkswagen is well into testing the Golf R, the turbocharged all-wheel drive headliner that gets 205 kiloWatts and a 1-100km/h time better than six seconds. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover

Hyundai’s second generation of its rear-wheel-drive Genesis sedan will debut at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show next January, the same event that this year saw the reveal of the forward-looking HCD-14 Genesis concept car.The information was revealed to Edmunds by Brandon Ramirez, a senior product planner for Hyundai’s American operations. This is slightly later than anticipated, which means we may see the new Genesis sedan’s showroom appearance delayed until the start of the 2015 model year and not during the upcoming 2014 model year. Prototypes of the car have been spotted all across Europe, with the latest versions seen conducting some high-speed tests at Germany’s Nürburgring circuit. They show several design elements borrowed from the HCD-14 Genesis concept and confirm the new car will have a sleek and somewhat elegant look.With Hyundai having updated the Genesis’ powertrain lineup only last year, expect similar numbers for the new model. This means the base Genesis will come with a 3.8-litre V6 rated at 245 kilowatts, and the range-topper, possibly keeping its R-Spec label, will continue with a 5.0-litre V8 rated at 315 kilowatts.An eight-speed automatic should continue as standard and it's possible a new diesel option will be offered overseas. It should be noted that Hyundai has previewed a new turbocharged and direct-injected 3.3-litre V6 engine that delivers 266 kilowatts, though it’s not clear if this engine will appear in the new Genesis.The engine was previewed in the stunning HND-9 coupe concept, which previews the second-generation Genesis Coupe due around 2015. The new Genesis sedan and its eventual coupe variant will once again share a platform, but this time around all-wheel drive will be available as an option.www.motorauthority.com  

...but the body changes are very minor and the cabin is also staying much as today. The big differences are likely to be more technology and efficiency improvements in the drivetrain. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

...but don't have to wait that long to see exactly how it looks. The S is caught by Carparazzi without a skerrick of camouflage and the promise of a Magic Ride Control system that uses cameras to watch the road ahead and instantly adjust the suspension to suit. Here early in 2014 for at least $200,000.

...flogging it around the Nurburgring to get the driving right.Genesis will change the game in Australia, taking Hyundai seriously upmarket for the first time with everything from V6 and V8 engines to a full luxury cabin in a package with old-school rear-wheel drive.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

This is the 2 Series Cabrio and BMW promises more style and sports feel despite the open-air cabin.

...and now Carparazzi has caught the hot AMG model on the road. The mechanical package mirrors the A45 AMG, including its 265-kiloWatt 2-litre turbo engine and all-wheel drive, and the GLA gets predictable hunkered-down suspension and extra body bits ahead of a public preview at the Frankfurt show in September.