Car Throttle

Even though the recent recession fatally wounded parts of the industry and fossil fuels running dry will threaten its future, the world of cars is still very much alive and kicking. There is such a variety of new products coming out this year ranging from affordable city cars you'll actually want to own, to ridiculously expensive supercars you'll lust after, old school coupes to revolutionary family cars, petrol engines to plug-in electric motors. The list is almost endless. So to help fellow car lovers and "new kids on the block" out, here's a round-up of 33 cars we can't wait to see in 2012 in order of release date. January 2012 Kia Optima It's been available around the world for a while but the Kia Optima

Currently, there's only one exclusive member of the sports car/SUV crossover club and that is the Porsche Cayenne. Now, though, a range of luxury and exotic SUV concepts have sprung out of nowhere. In the next few years you'll have a choice of a Bentley SUV, a Maserati SUV, even something called an Eterniti and possibly a Lamborghini SUV.  This wouldn't be their first attempt at off roading, though. Believe it or not, this is a classic Lamborghini! It's called the LM002 (or 'Rambo Lambo') and it was originally built to sell to the US Army. There were two engines for it: the same 5.2 V12 that's in the Countach or a 7.2 'Marine' V12 and both sound great but the car was

The M Performance line is intended to fit in between regular production BMW's, and the full-fat M models (M3, M5, 1M Coupe, etc).  Sort of like S-Line Audis, R-Design Volvos, and AMG Package Benzes, but with a catch: all four M Performance models that are coming to the Geneva Show in March are powered by diesels. Go cry in your beer if you want, but I'm not joking about the "Monster diesel" part.  Case in point: BMW's 4.4L twin-turbo V8 as seen in the 550i, 650, 750i, etc makes a healthy 400 horsepower and 440lb-ft of torque.  This new 3.0L I6 diesel going into these models makes 381bhp and 546lb-ft of torque.  Yes, five hundred forty six, or 740nM if you prefer that scale.  That's

The hike in price for tuition fees will mean getting into Uni next year will be tough. Renault understands the struggle and to help out they're giving one lucky student the chance to win one year's worth of tuition fees. The competition involves putting the artistic touch to Renault's forthcoming car, the Twizy, which is an all electric two-seater. All you have to do is visit www.designatwizy.co.uk, download the template to suit the software you have installed and let all your design inspiration invade it. You can enter as many designs as you like as long as they're uploaded before February 20th 2012. All entrants must be aged 17 or older and either registered or officially accepted at a further education establishment such as a college

Next year, the Corvette will be eligible for AARP membership.  America's sports car will be turning 60 years old, and the boys at Chevy have a surprise planned for the anniversary: the 427 Convertible.  Thankfully it's more than just a stripes and stickers package, (I'm looking at you, 40th Anniversary Corvette!) what with the LS7 under the hood. The 427 Convertible will be the first time that the Z06's LS7 (7.0L) V8 will be available in a drop-top Corvette.  Previously, the top dog convertible was the Grand Sport, which featured the LS3 6.2L V8 with goodies like dry-sump lubrication and launch control.  With 427ci of displacement, there's now a healthy 505bhp and 470lb-ft torque, making it the most powerful convertible 'Vette they've made yet.  A

Once the Megane range gets a mid-life face lift in April, we will be saying bye-bye to the 250 and a big hello to the new 265. It's Renault's latest record breaking hot hatch to hit our roads with a lap time of 8 minutes and 8 seconds around the Nurburgring which makes it the fastest front-wheel drive car ever to go round the famous German track. Thanks to the new 'Renaultsport Dynamic Management' system, the new 265's 2.0L Turbo will produce 261bhp and 265lb ft of torque meaning a 0-60mph time of around six seconds and a top speed of 160mph. All that is available once you've pushed the 'Sport' button, with the car acting calm and civilised, "ish", in normal mode. Renault have

According to Chevrolet, the following concept car was crafted using the minds of a plethora of young whiz kids from the US of A. Our question is who, what and how drunk were these selected yank youths? The concept that was designed by the future, for the future, is called the Code 130R which unfortunately houses many fails. The biggest failure is, well, just look at that thing! The newly appointed designers must have just sat in the studio bored either BBM-ing, iMessaging or playing Angry Birds for a while until one of them came up with an interesting remix, "Take Bumblebee, make him the same size as a 1M coupe, paint him red and give him gold rims." In principal, it sounds genius; a

The US car market is waking up from it's slumber.  Finally.  Cars are making a resurgence as people realize they don't need that giant SUV/pickup truck in today's economic conditions.  This means that makers are pouring more money into developing cars in an increasingly competitive market, and that's great news.  The two biggest domestic manufacturers are releasing brand-spanking-new versions of their bread-and-butter midsize sedans: the Chevrolet Malibu and now, the Ford Fusion.  Judging by pictures, specs, and a variety of other things: Ford has knocked the ball so far out of park that GM didn't see which way it went.  What?  Why?  Follow along and find out - and also why you should care. The 2013 Fusion is new from the sidewalls to the

Smart have came up with a little pick-up which claims to be the perfect car for young 'uns. The designers at Smart reckon this is because it's small on the outside, large on the inside, very safe and very comfortable. But what exactly is it and why will we love it? Firstly, it's a future proof fully electric city car which means that we need not worry about the rising petrol costs killing our wallets. The electric motor produces 74bhp, around the same as the higher powered 1.0L petrol engine in the VW Up!, and 96lb ft or torque leading to a top speed of 75mph. What if I run out of road and can't be bothered to walk? Fear not my friend because you

Every car lover's calender starts with a new batch of machines on show in Motor City. I'm talking, of course, about the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The city is famous for being the beating heart of the American motor industry and at the start of every year all the world's manufacturers congregate and show off their new products to see what our stateside friends think of their latest offerings. Here's a half-time round-up of the motors on show for 2012 from each stand from the day so far. Bentley Two new Continentals broke free from the covers at the Bentley stand; the V8 coupe and V8 GTC Cabriolet. Little differences to tell these from the bigger W12 on the outside include a gloss black