Clock Millenia 1999 99 Ta01 61 1j0 on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen mulls new Phaeton for the US market

Volkswagen is giving some serious thought to bringing back the Phaeton sedan to the U.S., Automotive News reports. We haven't seen the Phaeton since 2006, when it was withdrawn from the North American market after lackluster sales. Built at the same factory as the much more expensive Bentley Continental GT and sharing much of the underlying mechanicals, the Volkswagen Phaeton managed to be a slower seller in the U.S.

Lotus explosion: Elise, Esprit, Elan, Elite & Eterne (2010)

It’s only a few days since Lotus shocked us with details of the all-new Lotus Elite – a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 GT with a folding hardtop, the engine up front, and all-aluminium construction. Now, at the 2010 Paris motor show, the Norfolk firm is unveiling four more cars: Elise, Elan, Esprit and Eterne. On sale in 2015, the Elise is furthest from production, but we already know it will be a radical shift from today’s car.

BMW 6-series Gran Coupe (2012) first official pictures

If you want proof that the Mercedes-Benz CLS was an influential car, look no further than the new BMW 6-series Gran Coupe, unveiled at the weekend. It's a four-door 6-series, based very closely on the Gran Coupe concept car shown in 2010. The executive car market has changed a lot in recent years, and BMW is now chasing the same buyers as the Merc CLS, Audi A7 et al.