Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a carmaker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know - editor@carpoint.com.au
Alfa Romeo
Frankfurt heralded disappointment for Alfa, with Fiat boss, Sergio Marchionne, announcing it was delaying the ultra hot 4C mid-engined sportscar and subsequent SUV until mid 2013 at the earliest. Even more disappointment for Alfa's stylish execs in their tight-fitting Italian suits came from being in the 'Italian' hall, which was at least five degrees hotter than any other hall in Frankfurt. Even the non-smokers were frequently ducking outside for fresh-air breaks.
Audi
While nobody was confirming anything, the whisper was that Audi's astonishing temporary stand – which resembled an exhibition hall of its own – cost somewhere between €18-20 million. Sitting in an open area just in front of the Mercedes-Benz pavilion (which Daimler bought for 80 million DeutscheMarks, back in the day of the Dimmer), it was seen by many as Audi boss, Rupert Stadler, sticking two fingers up at the three-pointed star.
Audi's display has its own test track, two restaurants, meeting rooms, display turntables and also happens to be architecturally astounding. And it will be torn down in about three weeks time.... You can see it going up right here.
As an aside, and an important pointer to the future, Audi was the only group brand to escape the black hole that is the enormous Volkswagen Group exhibition hall. For every other motor show, it traditionally sat with the rest of the VeeDub crowd, occupying the corner real estate between the mega-buck brands, Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini and the volume brands SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen. This year, with the arrival of Porsche into the family, VW Group boss Martin Winterkorn finally let Audi out the door without the chaperone.
Take a look around the Audi line-up and you'll find that most of them owe their original sketches to two men, neither of whom are the much-discussed Audi design bosses: Wolfgang Egger and Stefan Seilaff. Young German Christian Winkelmann (no relation to the Lamborghini boss, Stefan, who is responsible for far fewer models) did the A2 concept car, which sat near his production creations, the A8 and the Q5. The son of a famous German architect, Jürgen Löffler is regarded as Audi's guru, and not only did the Urban Concept, but original sketches for the TT, A7, the A6 and the A6 Avant as well. He also did, as a brain freshener, the design for Audi's toy push car for toddlers. He's now busy working with Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley.
Bentley
Oft-criticised for its new Continental GT looking exactly the same as the old one, Bentley took the potentially embarrassing step of having the new car sitting next to the old car (well, the four-door Flying Spur version). The brand afficianados noticed… Most people didn't… Proving the detractors point.
BMW
While Audi and Benz cosied up over at the city-end of the massive Frankfurt exhibition centre, BMW chose to be up the other end -- more than 2km away! And it spent more than Audi to fit its enormous centre, but at least it got to spread the cost across three brands: BMW, MINI and now its all-electric i brand.
The i program has been cursed by the new wave of Twitter and Blogger "journalists" because their iPad autocorrect's don't let them write a lower-case "i".
BMW execs were still giggling about MINI boss, Kay Segler, and his verbal faux pas at the MINI Coupe launch, where he told journalists to "Make your bottoms hard so you can feel the stiffness..."
Ferrari
Neatest folding metal roof ever? That seemed to be the universal assessment of the 458 Spider. It's so neat that it's difficult to see coupe sales not suffering.
As part of a growing trend, those car companies with history took great steps to make their hospitality areas feel "homey". Maserati, Lotus and Ferrari casually plastered their internal walls with framed pictures of their glory days, with historic and/or arty shots of past sports or racing cars. Unfortunately, Ferrari's stand designer put one of the arty nose-cone pics of an F1 car on the wall upside down. Aerodynamics, it seems, really aren't always intuitive.
The most amusing Ferrari rumour doing the rounds was that its Japanese head, the Australian former Maserati Marketing director, Herbert Appleroth, actually owns the import rights to the Prancing Horse for Japan. Not true, Appleroth insisted.
"I wish," he said, "but it's not true. For the record, Ferrari's Japanese operation is fully owned by the factory."
Jaguar
Who'd have thought the British press would universally and slavishly fawn all over Jaguar's C-X16?
The drivel emerging from the British twitterverse was that it was the E-Type reborn; that it was the most stunning car at the show by miles and that it's a World Car of the Year before anyone had ever driven it… Typical!
I've long been a fan of Jaguar design boss, Ian Callum, but as several non-British critics pointed out, the nose is a bit Nissan 350/370Z, the doors look a bit Lotus Evora and it just doesn't have the cohesion we were hoping for -- especially as it's almost production ready.
"Jaguar DB7.5" one wicked scribe quoted.
It did set new standards for cool, though. Jaguar's design team made up a trick magnetic bit for the C-X16 concept car and senior Jag execs were umming and ahhing about whether they would be allowed to use it. On the morning of the show, they acquiesced, so the very observant would have noticed the "Growler" (cat's face) in the grille wearing a pair of black sunglasses. Cool cat, get it?
Lamborghini
Yet another Gallardo limited edition, with the Trofeo version of the 'volume' Lambo sporting a monster rear wing for those buyers who are less shy than the already less-than-shy average Lambo owner. After the Bicolore, the Tricolore and a range of limited editions, the Gallardo's last years are getting uncomfortable.
Lancia
Oh, dear. It might work in Europe for a while -- where nobody knows what the originals look like -- but the Thema (300C) and the Flavia convertible (200 C) are pure Chrysler rebadges. These are sad days for the brand that has built such classics as the Delta Integrale and the Stratos.
Land Rover
Unlike others within the motoring.com.au crew, this scribe is disappointed with Land Rover's DC100 concept car.
Land Rover's idea of a modern replacement for the leg-weary Defender, it's pre-engineered to be in open-topped or close-topped versions, with a range of different bits stuck on it. Still, the beauty of the Defender is that anybody with a hammer and a pair of tin snips reckons they can have a bash at fixing it and there's nothing on it that absolutely doesn't need to be there. Your average bloke with a shed can't make curved wheelarches with a hammer, can they?
By challenging its critics, though, Land Rover is boxing clever. The production version obviously won't be quite this radical, so it will look like a step in the right direction instead of a leap into the unknown. After all, Land Rover sold only 20,000 Defenders last year, down from the solid 30,000 mark that has been its run rate for more than a decade.
Lotus
The strangest thing about the Lotus presence at Frankfurt was that car it forgot to launch.
At the start of the show, Lotus talked about its rally car and its technology and its updates to the Evora, but forgot about the matt-yellow and black car sitting at the back. It was, in fact, the Evora GTE, with 105kg stripped from its frame thanks to lots of carbon-fibre – including the roof. To top that off, there was a bit more grunt to take it up to 444 horsepower from the 3.5-litre V6, a robotized manual gearbox and centre-lock hubs for the forged alloy wheels.
GTE was knocked up initially as a limited edition special for the Chinese market, but Lotus was flooded with orders for seven times as many as it planned to build, so it changed plans. Then the boffins took it to Frankfurt to see if they could drum up any interest but forgot to tell anyone. After question after question, they redressed their oversight and by the afternoon of the first press day, it had found its way into the official literature.
Maserati
The Kubang wasn't universally loved, but you'd have to look hard to find any trace of the Jeep Grand Cherokee on which it's based. Given that the Grand Cherokee itself shares a lot of its architecture with Mercedes-Benz's just-launched M-Class, there are worse underpinnings to base your first SUV off. And, besides, the more you looked at it, the more beautiful it became.
The shame of the Kubang is that it's the second Maserati to wear the name (Kubabg: is a wind in Java and follows a long, windy tradition that includes the Ghibli and the Bora) and the first one could have exploded the Modena sportscar house into monster sales and profitability… If only it could have been built…
The original Kubang stunned the Detroit show in 2003, but Maserati couldn't secure a 4X4 architecture to put underneath it, so it never made it into production. This version has been sketched to represent the second-generation.
Besides being three full years from production, the biggest question over the Kubang itself is that it will be the first non-Italian Maserati in history. It will be built in Detroit, with Ferrari building the biturbo V8 and V6 engines and shipping them Stateside to be slotted into the bodies.
Maybach
The subject of high drama in the months before the show, Maybach ended up showing, umm, errr… nothing.
Benz's problem super-luxury brand looks increasingly pointless -- especially since the parent company gave a belated "Nein" to Aston Martin, after the latter proposed a joint-venture where the English company was to take over the design and build of two concept cars. Not only did Benz not say why it said no but it also gave no hint whatsoever of what the replacement plan might actually be.
Mazda
An old enemy awaited this scribe in Frankfurt -- and it wasn't Mazda's CX-5 midsized soft-roader. Mazda brought a collection of its ice-racing MX-5s from our Swedish adventure earlier in the year.
While the Team Oz car, piloted by such notables as Michael Taylor and Mike Sinclair, finished second, it wasn't honoured at Frankfurt. Instead, it was the winning Russian car and a host of others. Try as we might, we couldn't see all the bangs and scratches from where our own Toby Hagon touched up the Russki Mazda in the final hard-fought laps… Mazda Europe changed all the bent bits!
Mercedes-Benz
The only company that owns its own building at the Frankfurt Messe, Benz chose to use Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher to unveil next year's DTM car. When asked why, we were told it was because nobody knew who the DTM drivers were… That's a bit odd, because one of them happened to be Schumacher's brother, Ralf, and it also makes you wonder why they bother with the series in the first place!
It would be like Triple 8 bringing Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button in to unveil next year's V8 Supercar.
SEAT
The Groupe VW Spanish brand's struggle for a resolute, unique identity continued unconvincingly at Frankfurt. It emerged with the IBL four-door concept car, which was trying to prove that you could have a cheap sedan and still be stylish. Unfortunately, it just made you look around the rest of the Seat stand…
Volkswagen
The up! is probably the most significant car of its generation, because it will not only take on Fiat's ubiquitous Panda in Europe, but it will take the Panda's unashamedly practical city size to the world -- without the giggle factor that comes with the smart.
up! is built to be the biggest-selling car in the world, and nothing short of that. Yet, with names like White up!, Black up! and Cross up!, it's going to give graffiti artists a field day…
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