Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Vn800 Classic Handlebar Risers #11 04 on 2040-parts.com

Audi A1 1.4 TFSI (2010) first picture

This new Audi A1 might have a long and convoluted name – it's the A1 1.4 TFSI (136 kW) – but it's not an Audi S1 by another name. While everyone has been expecting a hot version of the A1 to be unveiled at next week's Paris motor show (and this is it), it's not dubbed S1 because there's an even hotter version of the A1 still to come. Meanwhile, this first tuned and tweaked version of the A1 uses the same engine as the VW Polo GTI, Skoda Fabia vRS and Seat Ibiza Cupra.

2013 Land Rover Freelander 2 facelift coming

Land Rover are working on a mild facelift for the Freelander 2 for 2013 as it comes towards the end of its shelf life. It’s almost two years since Land Rover last facelifted the Freelander 2, a car that’s been with us since 2006, when they threw in some minor cosmetic tweaks, the first FWD Land Rover and gave us a more powerful diesel option. Somewhere prior to that Land Rover had quietly dropped the V6 petrol engine (in the UK, at least), so adding a more powerful version of the 2.2 litre diesel made sense as did providing a lower price entry point in the FWD Freelander.

Audi rolls out A3 lineup at the Los Angeles auto show

There's something about German automakers and model proliferation—it seems that if there is a niche to be filled, no matter how vanishingly small, a vehicle will be devised to fill it. If no niche is extant, they'll simply invent one, which is how we wound up with the unprompted X6. Audi's new A3 lineup, which debuted at the Los Angeles auto show and will begin its 18 month-long North American rollout spring 2014, seems incredibly rational by comparison.