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Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid (2011) first official pictures

Porsche has released details of its updated 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the 2010 original nearly won last year's Nurburgring 24hr race before (ironically) it retired with petrol engine failure.  The 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid – the lowdown Before this report disappears in a chorus of ‘it looks the same as last year’s one’, let's outline where Porsche’s engineers have been busy. At the unfashionable end of the car remains a 4.0-litre flat-six engine producing approximately 470bhp. Up front are twin electric motors, now producing 75kW of power each (up from 60kW) and combined these give the GT3 R Hybrid a 197bhp electric boost, which can be programmed to activate automatically via the throttle pedal, or manually selected during overtaking. F1-derived hybrid tech for the 911 GT3 R Hybrid Power for the two electric motors doesn't come from batteries, but flywheel accumulator technology from Williams Hybrid Power, an offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 team. The flywheel, encased in a carbonfibre safety cell in the space where the passenger seat would be, spins at up to 40,000rpm and acts as a mechanical energy store for the electric motors. Regenerative braking feeds energy back into the flywheel system – no surprises there, as the technology is derived from Williams' exeprience with Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in F1.

Porsche Panamera Shooting Brake Estate Concept at Paris?

It looks like Porsche will be showing a concept estate version of the Panamera at Paris – perhaps the Porsche Panamera Shooting Brake? The rumours that Porsche are preparing an estate version of the Panamera for the Paris Motor Show in September are gathering pace, and it now seems almost certain there will be a Panamera Shooting Brake Concept to upset Porsche purists when the Paris Motor Show opens on 27th September. Although the Panamera Estate Concept is highly probable, it seems likely any production car is some way off – probably 2015 at the earliest – before which we’ll see the Panamera get a facelift (which could arrive at Paris too) and even a Panamera Coupe and convertible on a shortened wheelbase.

Aston Martin Cygnet concept (2009) first official photos

Aston Martin has finally released detailed pictures of its premium supermini, the Cygnet. Based on the Toyota iQ, and sharing the majority of its mechanicals and interior architecture with the Japanese city car, the Cygnet is a major deviation from Aston Martin’s bread and butter luxury supercars. Sort of.