Indian conglomerate Tata, makers of the controversial Nano and owners of two British marques, has introduced an all-electric version of their Indian-market Indica V2 hatchback. The kicker is that this Indica EV will be ready for production by 2009. Read more… »

The Hyundai Genesis Coupe won’t be out till early next year, but tuners HKS have been handed an example of the unreleased car to modify and display at the upcoming SEMA tuner show in Las Vegas. Read more… »

South Koreans KIA showed off a funky concept earlier in the year called the Soul. The production-ready 2009 Kia Soul is now set for debut at the 2008 Paris Auto Show in October. Read more… »

If you keep track of the American car market, you’ll know that the four-door Toyota Prius is a seriously popular car there, since its launch a decade ago. Being a hybrid, it runs on a petrol engine which shuts off to use electric power as much as possible, and it generates this electric power simply from energy released during braking. Honda also had its own hybrid car a decade ago, called the Insight, which was cancelled by 2006 since it was a two-door hatchback and wasn’t as popular. Now Honda has revived the Insight nameplate for their latest hybrid, and this time, it comes with four doors. Read more… »

The current Mazda MX-5 roadster has been out in non-GCC markets for years now, even though it just hit Dubai roads less than a year ago, and still remains largely unseen. But the 2009 version is getting a facelift. Read more… »

Following the all-new i30 and the Indian-built i10, South Korean manufacturer Hyundai is getting ready to replace their aging Getz sub-compact with a brand new model called the i20. Read more… »

If you haven’t figured out yet, I work on this website randomly throughout all my waking hours, rather than from just 9 to 5. And on this late Ramadan night, I stumbled upon the European launch of a new model that will be similar to the GCC-spec version. I bring you the 2009 Honda Legend. Read more… »

These images of a prototype body kit for the Nissan GT-R were released by tuner company Wald. Read more… »

The Nissan Tiida has been given a mild makeover for 2009, mainly around the lighting areas. The 1.6-litre and 1.8-litre engines remain the same, but there is now a new Tiida Sport model. Read more… »

Believe it or not, but there are people out there who actually worship the perennially awful Honda City. Most of these people reside in countries such as India, Malaysia and China, and they’ve been tracking the progress of the upcoming 2009 model. We have to say, the new model actually looks rather decent, even though it looks nothing like any other Honda, in keeping with the company’s unfortunate tradition of all its models not sharing any corporate styling features among one another. Read more… »

The Ridgeline was Honda’s first attempt at cracking the pickup truck market in America when it was released a few years back. Unremarkable at everything it does, the Ridgeline is a class leader in a pointless category, being that it drives like a truck, but does not have as much cargo space as a truck, and it sucks at off-roading too. Thank goodness it is not offered in the GCC, since it would’ve become a hit here. But the one sold in America got a refresh for 2009. Read more… »

One of our readers, Mohamad, pointed us to this thread on nissan-arabia.com, showing local photos of the GCC-spec Renault “mystery sedan” that we exposed some time ago. It looks like the new sedan will revive the Renault Safrane nameplate for this Japanese-designed Korean-built French-badged car. Read more… »

Among the first to scoop this news, we bring you the first official photo of the all-new 2009 Infiniti G37 convertible. Read more… »

Hot on the heels of renderings for the 2009 Mazda 3 sedan, these photos show early models of the 2009 Mazda 3 hatchback. Read more… »

Just as Lexus is to Toyota and Infiniti is to Nissan, Japanese carmaker Honda has a luxury brand in the United States called Acura, churning out unique cars since the early 90s. Their latest creation is the incredible 2009 Acura TL, and it is unfortunate that Honda does not intend to bring the Acura brand here. Read more… »

The current Mazda 3 is a class-leading car. But while it is winning awards elsewhere for performance and handling, only the most basic versions come here in GCC-spec form, effectively crippling it against the likes of Honda and Toyota. The all-new 2009 Mazda 3 is just around the corner. To be unveiled at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the new car is set to revolutionise compact cars again. Read more… »

The Honda Accord is sold as the Inspire in Japan. Mugen is Honda’s in-house tuning arm that churns out performance parts for their cars. To celebrate the completion of my 2008 Honda Accord coverage with a final review of the V6 sedan, it is interesting to see that the conservative new Accord can actually look good with the right add-ons. Read more… »

Honda is displaying the OSM concept sports car at the ongoing British Auto Show. OSM stands for “Open Study Model,” and it is supposed to be an idea for a low-emissions roadster. Read more… »

Mitsubishi is planning to unveil the 2009 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport at the Moscow Auto Show, of all places. The Pajero Sport is just another name for the pickup-based Mitsubishi Nativa that has been soldiering on unchanged for ages now. Read more… »

Renault Middle East sent us news that they will launch a new midsize sedan in the GCC during September. They even sent us a teaser photo of the unnamed car, showing only a tail-light. That was enough for me to figure out that the car will be a rebadged version of the Korean-built Nissan-derived Samsung SM5. Read more… »