Mazda has unveiled the Shinari, a new four-door coupe concept, at a private press event held in Milan. The car indicates the future design direction for the Japanese brand. “Kodo”, Japanese for soul of motion, is the nickname that Mazda has given the new design language.

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Hyundai has introduced a new sub-compact family sedan concept RB at the 2010 Moscow International Motor Show. Production version of this concept car, which is basically a repackaged Verna / Accent, is scheduled to begin at Hyundai’s first full-cycle plant in Saint Petersburg, in January 2011. It will join the Hyundai lineup in the spring of 2011.

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Reportedly, there’s been a little bit of a mix up at Toyota. Sources say that the auto makers’ lawyers unwittingly let Toyota’s ownership of the Supra name expire. Word is that Toyota has once again applied for the trademark following a four year lapse.

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If what we hear is right, a small front-wheel-drive coupe would soon roll out of the Infiniti stables and would drive straight into the European market. Riding on the Infiniti Essence concept showcased at the Geneva motor show last year, the new coupe would come with the looks that could stand well above the normal hatchback design and would sport a coupe style profile.

The car which would be offered as the only front-drive model in Infiniti’s line up, would come in as a front-wheel drive vehicle. Most probably, the model could be seen taking on the Mercedes CLC which falls in the same category.

We also get to know from Autocar that the Essence based front-wheel-drive coupe would come in addition to the all-electric model based on the Nissan Leaf. This model, expected to roll out in the near term, would come sailing along the same basic platform and would boast of under-the-floor battery packs. A much powerful electric motor would make this e- different from the Leaf.

The Infiniti electric car, if you would remember, had made an appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall. Look forward to seeing some good looking cuties from the Infiniti assembly line.

So you have a supercar but would like to go sailing the sea, except for the fact that there’s no room for the car on board? Guess again, we have the solution. The good folks from Stand Craft have released their new Strand Craft 122 superyacht concept, a 38m long boat that features a built-in supercar garage that allows you to cruise both the sea and land in style. Or call it “high performance and smooth transportation transference”.

I’m not going to talk much about the yacht’s interior although as you can see it’s outstanding, but its technical sheet is quite impressive. The motor yacht is powered by twin MTU 16V4000 engines that help it cruise at 45knots, or you can add the optional Rolls-Royce KaMeWa boosters for a total 14,000hp that helps it achieve 55 knots.

And now that I’ve mentioned the supercar “thing”, it’s probably the most interesting. Apparently the Strand Craft 122 is going to be delivered together with a sleek four wheeler powered by a 880hp twin turbo V12 engine, that reaches a top speed of 345km/h, a four wheeler that will be housed in the built-in garage we previously mentioned.

No word if the Strand Craft 122 will see the light of day, when or for how much, but we can tell you for sure that this looks sick. We’re game!

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All you automobile freaks might remember the Saab 92 which was a full-scale production car in 1949 — something way ahead of its time in terms of aero dynamism and drag co-efficient. Well folks, Saab, the brand owned by Spyker now, have thought of reviving the model as the Saab 9-2 and has ever since sought partners to share technology on a small-car platform upon which the new 9-2 model will be based. Although Spyker did not let out details about this probable partner, it was told that the new 9-2 will retain the original tear-drop shape and as a super-cool sub-compact offering, it will compete against the likes of the MINI. The 9-2 will hopefully start rolling off the production facility by 2013.

The Jaguar F-Type has been a model lurking production approval for around 12 years now considering that it was first showcased as the XK180 Concept in 1998. Moving on from there, the financial crisis crippled the prototypes future and Jaguar rightfully decide to dump the project but it was back in 2008 that insiders from Jaguar started talking about the production of the F-Type again.

Under the new ownership of Tata, the good news is that the F-Type will finally be developed and it will be a driver-focused sports car which will feature top of the line engines as well as technologies. What is more is that the Jaguar UK plant closure work has been sped up and it will be China and India which will get new company factories in the not so distant future. Now whether the F-Type will be rolled out of the UK facility before closure is not a surety.

The fate of the Toyota FT-86 Sports Car hangs in the balance as Toyota has decided to postpone the production and launch of the vehicle for another two years. The exact reason is not yet known but the speculation is that Toyota is not happy with the concept designs.

Also, if Toyota goes ahead with the production and unveils the car by next year, the financial scenario will not be ideal and hence it cold result in poor sales.

Toyota had plans to team up with Subaru a couple of years back but then again, the economic situations made Toyota put the project on hold. Toyota still went ahead with the production in 2009 and even unveiled a concept at the Toyota Motor Show in the same year. Now again, the design has been rejected and the hopefuls will probably have to hang around for a couple of years.

We want Toyota .. we want!

There is good news for the lovers of the benchmark MINI as there is further scope for the expansion of the lineage as the Beachcomber concept that was showcased at the 2010 North American International Auto Show might be headed to the production facility. For the records, the concept was a preview of the Countryman Crossover and it featured removable doors and a canvas roof. While the production isn’t a 100% certainty at the moment, the enthusiast are still hopeful as MINI’s Global Brand Manager Dr. Wolfgang Armbrecht has mentioned that they need to assess the business basis for this specific MINI model.

We are so accustomed to talk about Land Rovers as typical all-wheel driven commuters that a Land Rover running on a front-wheel drivetrain sounds like a real novelty. It has never happened before for the brand but under the new owner, we will soon see an LRX Compact SUV coupe which is slated to debut at the Paris Motor Show in September.

Hitting the production floor early next year, Land Rover will first unveil an AWD version of the LRX while the novelty (FWD) shall hit markets sometime later. Land Rover is keen to reduce fleet CO2 emissions and the front-wheel driven LRX will look to do that for the brand. As far as the AWD version is concerned, it will get a 185 bhp rendering 2.2 liter diesel engine which will be mated to a 6-speed manual or an automatic transmission.