Hatchbacks

Pictured here in these latest spy shots is a prototype for the facelifted 2012 Kia Soul, which is expected to hit the market this summer. Kia engineers have gone to great lengths to mask the changes to the car but from what we can gather there will be new head lamps and possibly a revised grille...

Soon, the U.S. will finally get a taste of the Volkswagen R goodness that the rest of the world has been enjoying for the past couple of years. Of course, we’re talking about the high-performance Volkswagen Golf R, which will be heading to local showrooms towards the end of the year. However...

Details on the next generation of the Volvo C30 remain slim at best, with a report from late last year hinting at a more practical five-door model, aimed at competition with Volkswagen's Golf, BMW 1-Series, and Lexus CT-200h. A V30-badged crossover variant is also possible, aimed directly at the...

The 2011 Toyota Matrix will be on display at the Chicago Auto Show this week, featuring a range of small updates and the same familiar Matrix face we've all come to know. Though it may underwhelm showgoers, the 2011 Matrix adds a new set of standard wheels and small interior redesigns for the...

MINI is launching a new personalization program called MINI Yours, which will essentially offer customers a range of different options to configure their car exactly how they want it. Customers will be able to choose from a large selection of exterior paint finishes, light-alloy wheels, upholstery...

If you’re still unfamiliar with the John Cooper Works (JCW) branding, either you’re not a MINI fan at all or you’ve been living under a rock for the past several years. JCW is the official tuning arm for the MINI brand and not only produces its own range of upgraded cars but is...

MINI will be using next month’s 2011 Geneva Motor Show to unveil a range of new sporty diesel models based on the regular Cooper and Cooper Convertible, as well as the longer wheelbase Clubman and Countryman SUV. The new range will be badged as SD models and will come fitted with a 2.0-liter...

Have you ever wanted to drive a gigantic black beetle through a temperate rain forest? Volkswagen may just have you covered with the next New Beetle if this teaser video is any indication. Of course, the actual car won't look much like a six-legged insect at all, eschewing the arched top for a more...

Fiat is poised to make its return to the United States, with the 500 Prima Edizione the forerunner of a flotilla of pint-sized hatches and convertibles. Already open for order and soon to start delivery, the manual-only Prima Edizione will be joined over the next year by the 500C Cabriolet, Abarth...

If you thought 19 teenage girls squeezing into a Smart ForTwo was impressive, wait until you watch this video of 26 girls hopping inside a MINI Cooper. The previous record stood at 25 people but this latest group of dancers from the Pilobolus dance company, all 26 of them, managed to squeeze into...

Since its debut back in 2009, Volkswagen officials have been hinting at a relatively short shelf life of around four years for the MkVI Golf. After all, the current MkVI pretty much rides on a warmed over MkV platform and even its styling is hardly what you’d call distinctive or cutting-edge...

Each year, in the days prior to the Australian GP in Melbourne, there is a demonstration race known as the Celebrity Challenge. The event pits a group of Aussie celebs in a one-make race around the Albert Park F1 circuit and in the past has included cars such as the MINI Cooper and Fiat 500. This...

Mitsubishi is working on a new global small car positioned below its Colt hatchback and scheduled to enter production at a newly erected plant in Thailand in March of 2012. The car has been previewed here today as a concept that is scheduled to be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March...

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s official teaser sketches of the new 2012 Kia Rio comes this latest set of spy shots of the upcoming hatch, caught testing ahead of its world debut scheduled for March’s 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Like the smaller Kia Picanto, which will also be making its...

Lovers of Italian flair--on a budget--were treated with a handful of 2012 Fiat 500 minicars at this week’s 2011 Detroit Auto Show, which added a little spark to Chrysler’s stands and managed to draw in plenty of fans and curious onlookers. These latest live photos really show off the...

What we have here is a Mercedes-Benz B-Class, a car normally powered by efficient four-cylinder gasoline or turbodiesel mills, given a powerplant transplant by apprentices at the automaker’s plant in Rastatt, Germany. Their weapon of choice? A throaty V-8 engine displacing 5.5-liters and...

If you're longing for the Cruze Hatchback, you'd better start looking for tickets to Australia or Europe, as that's the closest you're going to get. Today, images of the final production design of the European Chevrolet-badged version of the car (shown at the Paris auto show) emerged from the EU's...

Last year we saw the first iteration of the new Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C, a lighter and more hardcore version of the then-new Impreza WRX STI that was built in a limited run of just 900 cars. The car essentially featured enhanced engine and chassis performance as well as the aforementioned...

The idea of shoving the biggest, most powerful engine around into smallest vehicle you can find is nothing new, hot-rodders in this country have been doing it for the good part of the last century, but more recently it’s been the Germans that have been showing us the way. A few years back we...

We’ve already reported on possible plans for a hotted-up Mercedes-Benz A-Class from AMG but now we have new information suggesting that the premium compact hatch could be producing as much as 320 horsepower from a highly tuned four-cylinder turbo. With the new 2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe coming...