Ever wondered what a Cruze would look like if it had some more trunk space? Today, Chevrolet has revealed its Cruze station wagon before its official appearance next month at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show.

These pictures show the wagon with the same clean looks that the Cruze sedan and hatchback have, and sporting a new set of alloy rims. Also new for the station wagon is the optional 1.7L diesel engine with start-stop technology.

Unsurprisingly, at 184.2-inches long, the Cruze station wagon is bigger than both the Cruze hatchback (177.5-inches long) and the Cruze sedan (180.9-inches long.)

Trunk space is what talks in the world of station wagons, and Chevrolet says if you pack the trunk up to the window, you’re looking at 17.6 cubic feet of trunk space. If you still need more space in the back, you can drop the back seats and enjoy a total space of 52.9 cubic feet of space.

The full reveal of the station wagon will take place at the Geneva Auto Show, where Chevrolet will show us updates to the Cruze’s front fascia, and interior. Also, hopefully Chevrolet will comment on the Cruze station wagon’s availability in other markets than Europe.

As of now there is no talk of bringing the stretched out Cruze to North America.

This may seem more like a unicorn than a Mustang, but sure enough before your eyes is a custom 1965 Ford Mustang Station Wagon built by Joe Kamp. It’s also now available for sale for $54,900 and with 93,965 miles on the odometer, it’s clearly been built to be driven.

By using a clean, original Mustang Hardtop as the foundation, the wagon body was created with 100-percent steel and uses as many factory components as possible. The original roof was cut, lengthened, slightly widened, and installed with sections of the original C-pillars out back. From there, the rear tailgate and window were made using the original hardtop pieces and deck lid.

Once all the body work was completed, the Mustang Station Wagon was painted in a brilliant red finish while gold Shelby-style stripes were added to provide some contrast to the aesthetics. Under the hood is a traditional Ford 5.0L V8 powerplant mated to a T5 five-speed manual transmission. A set of original 15-inch Mustang wheels were fitted to the body, wrapped with 215/70/15 BFGoodrich T/A rubber.

And with the station wagon conversion taking place on this Mustang, the interior had to be overhauled to match the unusual style of the body. A bench-style front seat was installed along with a custom center console with a filler in between the seats to give the illusion of a bench, but the comfort of bucket seats. The brown vinyl is traditional ’60s styling while the tan seen on the dash and kick panels gives it a sense of elegance.

Whatever happened to the original Mustang Station Wagon is still a mystery, but this custom Wagon that’s for sale is probably the closest anyone will ever get to the mythical original.

GALLERY: 1965 Ford Mustang Station Wagon

[Source: RK Motors]

Our photographers have just caught up with the soon-to-be-revealed Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake.

Spy photos of the unique wagon-styled-coupe that’s actually a sedan (or is it a wagon now?) show a nearly-completed vehicle, suggesting it could make its world premiere as early as the Geneva Motor Show in March. Mercedes has already announced plans for the CLS Shooting Brake to go on sale by the end of this year.

When it does arrive look for power to come from the brand’s new twin-turbo 4.6-liter V8 with a choice of either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and if we’re really lucky, a CLS63 Shooting Brake may also be in the pipe with a twin-turbo 5.5-liter engine and well over 500 hp.

GALLERY: Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake Spy Photos

We’ve received word that among the debuts scheduled by Audi at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the 2013 B8 Audi RS4 Avant will be among them (the B7 is shown above). Powered by a 4.2-liter FSI V8, the car will reportedly crank out some 450 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque and will be teamed exclusively with a seven-speed S-tronic transmission that incorporates launch control technology.

Alongside the RS4 Avant,  Geneva will witness world premieres of the A1 Quattro (powered by a 250 horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged FSI motor), the Audi A3 (with four engine options, a 1.4 TFSI, two 1.8 turbo motors, plus a 2.0-liter turbo diesel) and the third generation A6 All-Road, which, powered by a 3.0-liter TFSI V6, is said to deliver improvements in fuel economy of up to 20 percent . The highly anticipated TT RS will also make its global debut at the Swiss motoring expo, powered by the 2.5-liter, five-cylinder TFSI motor, reportedly delivering around 360 hp.

Although the TT RS is heading stateside, as is the RS5 (which shares its driveline with the 2013 RS4 and makes its Swiss premiere at the show); with the B8 RS4 being offered as an Avant only, it’ll be interesting to see just what Audi’s strategy is for this model, especially as it relates to North America.

So far we know it will be offered to customers around the world, though there’s no word yet on when or if it will come to the US. Given that many European brands seem less than enthusiastic about sending their wagon offerings stateside these days, we’ll be watching closely with this one.

[Source: Autoblog.nl]

Not too long ago, reports came in that Fiat is developing a 500 five-door wagon for the US market and now it appears that the Italian automaker will be reviving the 500L model name for the upcoming five-door 500.

The new five-door model gets an L added to its name for being large, and is scheduled to make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Additional details on the model were also reported, stating that the 500L will sport a front end similar to the standard 500 model, but the vehicle will be wider and about 2.4-inches longer.

America will only be seeing a five-seater variant of the 500L, but it’s believed that the European market will also receive a seven-seater 500L. Fiat believes – and rightfully so – that American buyers wouldn’t have much interest in a seven-seater with such a small footprint.

Chances are the 500L in America will feature a 1.4L, four-cylinder engine with around 105-hp. The 500L badge originally came on Fiats produced from 1968-1972, but back then the L stood for Lusso, which is Italian for luxury. Now it’ll just be large.

[Source: Automotive News]

If there were any doubts that Hyundai is planning to offer a second generation of its Elantra Touring in North America, this should pretty much do away with them.

Spied parking in an underground condo garage in Toronto, Canada and sent to us by a friend who runs the Endras BMW Blog, the spy photos at first seem to show some type of Volkswagen prototype. The shape of the headlights, however, is just some camo trickery, and the fenders are most certainly those of the Hyundai Elantra Touring. As though more confirmation was needed, a peak inside shows the Hyundai badge on the steering wheel and a typical Hyundai interior.

When it does arrive on our shores, look for the same engine as the current Elantra, with a 2.0-liter making 148 hp and getting 40 mpg on the highway. Previous reports have suggested a 200 hp turbocharged model could be in the works, as well as a plug-in hybrid version.

GALLERY: 2013 Hyundai Elantra Touring Spy Photos

Read AutoGuide’s 2012 Hyundai Elantra Review Here

It definitely seemed there was more going on at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit; more buzz, more pizzaz, more enthusiasm. There were over 40 product unveilings, including some highly anticipated new models like Cadillac’s ATS, Acura’s NSX and Ford’s new Fusion, just to name a few.

Now that the show has closed for another year, those observations proved to be true. The 2012 show was the best attended since 2005, with some 770,932  people walking through the doors to ogle the auto industry’s latest wares, more than 92,000 on the first public day alone.

And although not a record, NAIAS chairman Bill Perkins was still pleased at the results. “A lot of people counted Detroit down and out,” he said “but [2012] has been a major year for our industry and show. Detroit is still the center of the North American auto industry, and the importance of this show draws people here from around the world.”

According to Perkins, NAIAS has an economic impact of some $400 million for the city of Detroit and South Eastern Michigan, more than the Super Bowl.

The higher attendance numbers have no doubt helped to add a bit of luster to the Detroit show’s status as one of the major events of its kind in the world, along with the likes of Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo and Bejing.

“NAIAS is positioned with [those shows] because of the number of worldwide product unveilings we host,” remarked Jim Seavitt, the show’s vice chairman. “We are traditionally very strong in both categories, which is why NAIAS remains an important part of the automakers’ global product launch strategies.”

Audi’s performance vehicle lineup is about to get a new addition with these latest spy photos revealing what appears to be the next-generation RS6 Avant.

Based on the current generation A6 wagon, the test mule features a more bold font grille, as well as add-on fender flares to accommodate the wider track. Other hints include the use of some larger A8 wheels and some massive ceramic brakes.

Power for the RS6 is expected to come from the new 4.0-liter V8 twin-turbo engine found in cars like the S6, S8 and the new Bentley Continental GT V8. In the Bentley it makes 500 hp and 487 lb-ft of torque, while the S8 boasts 520 hp and 48 lb-ft.

At this point further details are just speculation, but there’s a possibility the new RS6 could get boxy integrated fender flares, reminiscent of the original Audi Quattro, while some body panels could be made of carbon fiber to help shed poundage from the large and luxurious super wagon.

GALLERY: 2013 Audi RS6 Avant Spy Photos

Kia Motors America has announced that it’s recalling 145,755 vehicles today. The two models affected are the 2006-08 Optima sedan, specifically those manufactured between September 29, 2005 and January 29, 2008, and Rondo MPVs (pictured above) built between September 13, 2006 and March 21, 2008, for issues with the cars’ supplementary restraint system.

The problem concerns the clock spring in the airbag assembly, which can apparently become damaged over time. Failure of the clock spring contact assembly, will result in high resistance in the airbag electrical circuit, meaning that in the event of an accident, the airbag will fail to deploy, likely resulting in greater risk of injury to vehicle occupants.

Kia says it will be notifying owners of the affected vehicles, suggesting them to take the vehicle to an authorized dealer who will replace the airbag clock spring assembly. Kia says the recall is expected to begin in March 2012 and concerned owners are encouraged to contact Kia Customer Service at 1-800-333-4542 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. Alternatively they can also visit HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

Earlier this month a new reports noted that Chevrolet Volt sales were more successful in its first year than the sales numbers of the Toyota Prius hybrid on its first year back in 2000. What little optimism Chevrolet might have had on the Volt’s sales performance were quickly silenced when data revealed that Toyota dealt a quick knockout as its new Prius v wagon (also in its first year) out sold the Volt. And it did so with just 10 weeks on sale.

Official numbers for Chevrolet Volt’s 2011 sales are 7,671 units delivered. Toyota managed to sell 8,399 hybrid wagons, which did not arrive to U.S. dealerships and showrooms until the last week of October.

President of Toyota U.S. Sales Jim Lentz says, “Prius v is off to a great start.” For 2012, Toyota aims to deliver 220,000 Prii to U.S. customers, a 60 percent increase from 2011. Toyota’s offensive includes offerings of the original Prius, the Pruis v wagon, and the Prius c subcompact that arrives in March.

GALLERY: Toyota Prius v wagon

[Source: Bloomberg]

Read AutoGuide’s 2012 Toyota Prius v Review here and watch the video review below:

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