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McLaren MP4-12C: The build begins +video

First McLaren MP4-12C being built You could be forgiven for thinking that McLaren had already started building their Ferrari 458 challenging car – the McLaren MP4-12C. After all, it’s been turning up all over the place for at least a year, and we even had a good view of the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood as it passed us en-route to strut its stuff up the Goodwood Hillclimb last year. But the cars we’ve seen so far – even the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood – were prototypes; McLaren’s running test beds for tweaking and refining the MP4-12C before the first cars reach customers this year.

Autoweek in review: What you might have missed

Rally driver Ken Block spent his summer on a three-continent tour of car trickery, and his highlight video can be viewed here. The Chevrolet Volt has been in the spotlight this week because of a NHTSA investigation into battery-pack fires, but the car still topped an owner-satisfaction survey. Tokyo Motor Show press days were this week, and you can check out our complete coverage here.

The 2011 Volkswagen Touareg rolls out with a new hybrid powertrain

Volkswagen is banking on the fuel-saving properties of a new gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain and what it describes as a wholesale improvement in quality levels to bolster North American sales of its second-generation Touareg. This new Touareg represents VW's first foray into the premium-hybrid-SUV market, which includes gasoline-electric entries from BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac, among others. Further competition will come from a similarly powered version of the new Porsche Cayenne, alongside which the new Touareg was developed.