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McLaren MP4-12 650S hits the Web ahead of official Geneva reveal

Images of the new McLaren MP4-12 650S have leaked to the Internet ahead of a planned unveiling for the British supercar at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. Created in response to customer demand for an edgier version of the McLaren MP4-12C offering greater levels of driver engagement, the 650S runs a more heavily tuned version of McLaren's twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 direct-injection engine producing a claimed 25 hp more than the variant used by standard sibling for a total of 641 hp (as its name suggests 650 ps -- metric hp). Further details remain scarce ahead of the MP4-12C 650S's official public unveiling in Switzerland two weeks from now, although information passed on to prospective customers at a private presentation of the new two-seater held last week suggest it is also in line to receive a series of modifications to its seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, suspension, steering, brakes and aerodynamics -- all aimed at providing it with a more aggressive nature and added racetrack ability.

First Sight: Holden VE Commodore and Statesman

GM Holden last week launched its biggest program ever, the $1 billion all-new Holden VE Commodore range. Designed at Holden's Port Melbourne design center, the 4th generation Commodore is the first all-new model of the series to be fully designed and engineered in Australia. Previous generations of Commodore since 1978 have always been based on lengthened and widened Opel large car platforms of the day but since the demise of the European Omega in 2003, GM lacked a suitable rear-wheel-drive donor platform for a new Commodore, hence the clean sheet approach for the latest VE model.

Mitsubishi revamps U.S. strategy

Mitsubishi plans a different U.S. model lineup and a new production strategy for its assembly plant in Normal, Ill., as it shifts emphasis away from regionally focused vehicles to global small cars, hybrids and electrics. Shinichi Kurihara, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, says the company will launch four new models in the United States within three years, as four slow-selling U.S.-built vehicles are phased out of production by 2014.