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Beijing motor show: China means (auto) business

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 22 April 2008 05:34 Only a fool wandering around this week's Beijing motor show would still dismiss China as some also-ran automotive market full of rip-off designs and outdated ‘new’ cars based on old Western designs. While all of those clichés were still in evidence at the Chinese auto show, the copycat mentality is much less obvious than even a year ago at last year's Shanghai show. And every western car exec CAR spoke to was in awe of the upward sales trajectory that means China is still the place to do business in 2008.Yes, there are still some odd automotive fish, usually small ‘three-box’ saloon in shape such as the Chinese market only Citroen C-Elysee and the VW Lavida (a Jetta/Bora Plus car with less style).

Hyundai enlists Flaming Lips for Super Bowl ad

We previewed a couple of Hyundai's Super Bowl spots -- focused largely on speed and power -- earlier in the week. The Sonata ad was a trifle of pedestrian whimsy, while the Genesis sedan R-Spec spot grated, grated and grated some more. Now, with the kickoff looming, the Korean automaker's loosed its marquee ad, promoting the 2013 Santa Fe, upon the YouTubifying unwashed.

Bench Racing: New crop of supercars

It's been a while since we've hypothetically raced a handful of cars around the office; long enough that an entirely new crop of supercars has arrived for us to chart, graph and dissect. Today we're zeroing in on the $1-$3 million price tag range, which fits the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, Pagani Huayra and the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. The first three fit neatly, pricewise, at about $1.3 million.