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The very first car designed and built in Saudi Arabia is officially a reality. King Abdullah unveiled the production Gazal 1 at a special ceremony yesterday and congratulated everyone who participated in the vehicle's development on a job well done. As you may recall, the Gazal 1 was a special project created by the students at King Saud University. Though built off the bones of a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the KSU kids penned the exterior and reworked the interior to accommodate Saudi Arabia's notoriously brutal climate and demanding terrain.

When we saw the original Gazal 1 design study at this year's Geneva Motor Show, we thought the vehicle looked pretty good, especially considering how little experience the SUV's designers had in bringing a full-scale vehicle to life. From what we can tell, it looks like the production version has stuck fairly close to the big green model we saw back in March. That means the Toyota FJ Cruiser-style roof has made its way into reality along with the very International grille.

It works for us, especially considering the go-anywhere Mercedes-Benz components bolted underneath. No one's said what's under the hood of the Gazal 1, but we're guessing the same 382-horsepower 5.5-liter V8 from the standard G550 is a good bet.

[Source: Arab News]

We'll come clean. Collectively, we spend an unexpected amount time repeating the following sentence, "As much as I know I shouldn't, I love the BMW X6. I know it's wrong, I know. But it's just a great car." But you know what makes less sense than the X6? The X6 M. That car's stone cold crazy. Therefore we like it even more than the regular flavor SAC (Sports Activity Coupe). Have you met our friend Hamann?

For the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Hamann brought along its new Tycoon EVO M. And... it's quite bonkers.The 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 has been pumped up to the tune of 670 horsepower and 576 pound-feet of torque. For comparison's sake, the Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce's mighty 6.5-liter V12 produces 670 hp – exactly the same amount as the Hamann Tycoon EVO M. Crazy, no? Oh, also, the mightiest ever Lambo makes 89 lb-ft of torque less than this mental patient Hamann.

Then there's the little matter of the carbon fiber. Look, we're all for saving precious pounds but keep it real for a minute. Before Hamann got their filthy mitts all over it, the X6 M weighed in at 5,324 pounds. Lord (and Hamann) only knows what it weighs now. And since we're keeping it real, shaving a few pounds off the front end of an over-powered beast like the Tycoon is killing a mouse with the 101st Airborne. In other words, the carbon fiber hood and splitter is nothing but blingy, look-at-me bunting. And since we're ragging on conspicuous displays of too much wealth, Tycoon? Really? That said, we've never seen 23-inch wheels look so perfectly at home.

Remember the day when Aston Martins were two-seat sportscars? Yeah, neither can we because a lot's happened since then. The Rapide four-door. The Lagonda crossover concept. And this, the Cygnet.

News first broke that Aston was working on a city car based on the Toyota iQ back in June, with initial details and photos released half a year later. Now the Cygnet has made its official auto show debut here in Geneva, modestly nestled in between the company's Vantages and DB9s.

The idea is to provide existing Aston owners with an urban tender in which to zip around congested city centers like London. Say what you will of the idea, but the fit and finish on the Cygnet look suitably Aston. Just shrunken down and chopped up. With it, Aston Martin just might end up redefining what an Aston Martin is. But a sportscar, good sir, it most certainly is not

Although Christmas was many months ago, we're guessing that the fine folks at Bentley specified the paint on their Bentley Continental Sports Convertible show car some months ago. How else to explain the scrumptious eggnog metallic finish and interior piping? Perhaps it was the droptop's yuletide bounty of power (621 brake horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque) from its force-fed W12 engine that inspired them. Or the fact that at over 200 mph, this would make for one hell of a sleigh.

Either way, we believe that this flex-fuel droptop will finally complete the automaker's already expansive Continental lineup (we expect to see the next-generation model very soon), but admittedly, we've figured that Bentley's volume car didn't have any more derivatives left in it before, and here we are.

[Source: Bentley]

We previously mentioned in our coverage of the 2010 Geneva Motor Show that a blue and yellow color combination was a potential recipe for disaster. As proof, we present to you the Mansory Rolls-Royce Ghost. Ok, so it's technically blue and gold, but that just might make it worse. The Swiss tuner has long been known for its controversial styling, and this vehicle follows a long line of shocking cars like the Bentley Vitesse Rose that debuted at Frankfurt. That's not to say we haven't liked anything produced by Mansory. We very much dug the Linea Vincero that appeared at this show last year.

Is there anything we like about the blue baby Rolls? We can perhaps appreciate the larger turbochargers and upgraded exhaust system that boost horsepower to 720. Other than that we wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. What Mansory calls "self assured coloring" we simply call garish, and the "styling interior refinements" are anything but. Thanks, but no thanks. We'll keep our Rolls-Royce Ghost as is.

Over the past few years Bugatti has released numerous versions of its Veyron supercar, but the Grand Sport model hasn't been out enough to get too many variations. Bugatti released the Sang Bleu version this past summer in Monterey, but that's about it. In addition to the the pair of Grand Sports we drove, those are the only color combinations we've seen for the drop-top Bugatti.

That is, of course, until we hit the show floor here in Geneva. Bugatti has brought out a brand new Grand Sport finished in carbon fiber covered in clearcoat and polished aluminum. Other than the wheels, which we're not huge fans of, the car is completely stunning to look at. If we somehow had the cash to buy and maintain a Bugatti, the carbon fiber finish would be the first option we would check off

Unlike the great majority of things in life, the Lamborghini Gallardo just keeps getting better and better. And then better. First came the 2007 Superleggera and it was wonderful. One year later saw the introduction of the LP560-4 and it's safe to say that quite a few of us on staff here at Autoblog would choose it as our "lottery car." Then, while we were busy losing money on Power Ball, Lamborghini came out with the rear-wheel-drive Valentino Balboni. And while we're still busy picking our jaws up off the floor from that stunner, Lambo drops this lime-green bombshell in our lap.

Meet the 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera. The numbers are stoo-pid good. Ready? 561 horsepower from the now quite familiar 5.2-liter V10, which is up from 523 hp in the 2007 model). The Superleggera also weighs just 2,954 pounds. The last Superleggera tipped the scales at (a still light) 3,153 lbs, which means the new, much more powerful car is 199 pounds lighter. In fact, it weighs 33 pounds less than a Porsche Boxster – which is nuts. How'd Lambo pull it off? Well, Superleggera means "light weight" in Italian. That being said, the weight savings mostly come from carbon fiber with the rest of the fat being trimmed off the lightweight aluminum wheels.

In person, the LP570-4 looks fantastic, especially in screaming Lamborghini green. The big visual news is the massive, Reventon-inspired front air intakes, but we like the giant rear diffuser even more. In fact, we can't think of a single thing we don't like about the latest fighting bull from Sant'Agata, save the not-yet-announced price tag. Which is why we're so big on the lottery.

The one thing on our minds as Audi unveiled the RS5 here in Geneva is whether or not the car will come to the United States. We can't get a definitive answer from the German automaker, and although we're guessing the chances are fairly slim, we were told not to completely rule it out. Audi has listed the base price of the car only in Euros (77,000), but we'll hold on to hope until Audi officially states the car won't be sold across the pond.

Why do we want the RS5 in the U.S. so bad? For starters, it's got a 450 horsepower version of Audi's tried and true 4.2-liter V8 paired to the legendary Quattro AWD. Combine that with perhaps the best looking coupe designs on the market today and you've got one heck of an appealing sports car.

We've just returned from Audi's press conference here at the Geneva Motor Show, where Justin Timberlake has laid claim to one of the first A1 hatchbacks that comes off the line. Funny thing is, even with his undoubtedly massive bank accounts, the pop star won't be able to get one – at least not to park in front of any of his U.S. cribs. That's because Audi has announced that the entertaining-looking three-door isn't headed to the States. Given how the A3 has festered in darkened showroom corners in the American market, we can't exactly blame them for not importing an even smaller hatchback, but somehow we think this Mini Cooper-fighter might just find a market where the frumpier, more conventional A3 has stalled.

Available in Europe with four turbocharged, direct-injected engines (two TDI diesels, two gasoline), the A1 will be available with a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic gearbox with optional paddle shifters. Thanks to standard start-stop and energy recuperation among other fuel-saving tricks, the A1 is estimated to reach between 44 miles-per-U.S.-gallon and 62 mpg on the European Cycle.

Audi is also showing an electrified concept version of the A1 as the latest in its e-tron family. Packing a t-shaped lithium-ion battery and a single-rotor Wankel rotary IC engine(!) along with a few external cues to hint at its extended-range hybrid technology, it also drew more than a few eyeballs.

[Source: Audi]

While most automakers have scaled back their auto show vehicle press introductions due to budgetary cutbacks or newfound modesty, Mercedes-Benz hasn't forgotten the value of theater. As part of its press conference today showing off several models, the Three Pointed Star kept it flashy with dancers who tubed and bungied in from the ceiling, not to mention the lights blaring debut of the SLS AMG F1 safety car with Messrs. Rosberg and Schumacher inside. Peeling back the frosting, the real focus of Benz's show is this car, the F 800 Style concept.

Said to preview the next CLS, the F 800 Style is a plug-in hybrid with a 272-horsepower gasoline-fed V6 engine. Together with the electric motor, the combination is said to be good for over 400 horsepower and incorporate an electric-only range of 18 miles. Benz also says that the F 800 Style could incorporate a fuel cell powertrain.

The five-passenger sedan looks quite tidy in person, with a shorter tapered trunk than the current CLS, and indeed, the entire concept appears smaller than the aforementioned, with a bluffer face that is said to presage the new face of Mercedes. When viewed in profile, the front looks almost Maserati GranTurismo.

In addition, the F 800 also shows a future derivation of Benz's COMAND all-in-one interior control system that includes a touchpad console. Unlike the production touchpad application in the new Audi A8, the F800 also employs a camera that "...records video images of the user's hand as it works the pad. The live image of the hand is presented in transparent form on the central display above the center console." Uh-huh.

The F 800 also features an evolution of the company's Distronic Plus system that is optimized for use in traffic jams as well as a 360-degree implementation of its Pre-Safe system that monitors for rear impacts. If it senses an impending rearward crash, the system applies the brakes to prevent the car from being pushed forward into other vehicles or pedestrians, though the driver can take control of the vehicle and override the system by hitting the accelerator should that be the safer option.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]