New concepts to be revealed at Pebble Beach

The international auto show in Frankfurt is but a few weeks away, yet for important new cars in the American market there's further proof that traditional auto shows such as Detroit are being shunned as launch venues in favor of more exclusive and pretigious events. That's because Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, Lotus and possibly a few others are set to reveal new production and concept cars at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance later this week. Lexus is set to unveil its production GS350 (previewed by the Lf-Gh concept in New York earlier this year), the fourth generation of its luxury sports sedan, on August 18, while Cadillac's 2013 ATS will also be revealed.

Toyota Yaris Hybrid: Previews new Yaris

Toyota Yaris Hybrid - a preview of the next-gen Yaris Toyota are determined to shove hybrid gubbins in anything they build that moves, so we now get a hybrid version of the next generation Yaris revealed at Geneva. Just as Toyota aren’t saying if the new Prius+ will get the regular 1.8 litre hybrid drivetrain (we think it will), they’re also not saying if the Toyota Yaris Hybrid will get it. We’re assuming not, because it would then out-perform both the Prius and the Auris Hybrid, which would never do.

No performance upgrades for Subaru BRZ STI?

Earlier this week we brought you first news and pictures of the Subaru BRZ STI – and discussed the potential for a set of high performance upgrades taking the car’s output to around 300hp. However, according to people who claim to be in the know, this first round of  STI add-ons for the Subaru BRZ could be little more than cosmetic and chassis changes. On Bing: see pictures of the Subaru BRZ Find out how much a used Subaru BRZ is worth on Auto Trader Subaru originally rebuffed suggestions that it would fit a turbocharger or supercharger to the car’s 2.0-litre flat-four engine, which would easily take power from the standard 200hp output up to around 300hp.