Citroen GT concept
Real cars going into productionWe wouldn't have bet on Citroen dropping such an impressive car at Paris that they'd steal the show from Lambo.
But that was before we saw this, the GT concept.
We walked over the stand, with those annoyingly insufficient teaser shots from last week fresh in our mind, and we nearly fell over ourselves when we clapped eyes on it.
The GT concept is mind blowingly cool. It conjures up the same sort of otherworldly wonder that Mazda's Furai does.
Every line of its form has you intrigued, from the massive front splitter all the way along to that mental elongated spoiler.
And it's a bloody Citroen!
There's no way it will ever get made obviously, and as yet we don't know what, if anything, is under the bonnet. But we'll at least get to drive it. On the PS3, via Gran Turismo 5.
Here at the show they've got Gran Turismo set up next to the GT concept, so that you can drive the car in the game next to the car.
You can download it too for your console at home, too. But will they build it? Frankly, we quite like the idea of a car built for a computer game being ripped off and made in reality.
Citroen is saying nothing. We reckon they should work out exactly how quick it'll be in the game and slot in an engine to make its virtual performance a reality.
IS250CThe teasing is over, Lambo's secret is revealed - and it's a four-door super saloon called the Estoque.
Unveiled moments ago here at Paris, it's fair to say there were dropped jaws all round.
Lambo's brand director Manfred Fitzgerald says that he's not interested in what anyone else is doing - Aston's Rapide or Porsche's Panamera - but that this is a statement of intent.
And what a statement it is.
It measures in at over five metres long and two metres wide, with a wheelbase alone at three metres, and yet it's only 1.35 metres high. So it's long, wide, and very, very low.
It retains design details from last year's wowie Reventon, and those wheels are just plain huge.
This show car currently houses Lambo's recently reworked 556bhp, 5.2-litre V10 but, as our Jason Barlow speculates in the new issue, could easily accomodate the Murcielago's V12, a V8, or even, as Fitzgerald has hinted intriguingly, a new hybrid power train.
A hybrid Lambo?!
Interesting stuff. And Lambo says it's good to go with this, so expect to see it on the road soonish.
But for now, just breathe in those pictures. And try to decide whether it's this or the Aston that steals the show.
(Incidentally, the name Estoque, pronounced 'Es-tock-eh', is the sword which a matador uses to finish off a bull in the ring.)
The veggies will love that.
http://www.motorauthority.com/images/Le ... ty_003.jpgOver on the Lexus stand, the wraps have just come off the IS250C convertible - the posh Toyota with the folding hard-top that'll be gunning straight for the 3-Series convertible when it reaches Europe next summer.
In the flesh, it's not good-looking, exactly, but certainly a lot better than the monstrosity that is the SC430.
The IS250C gets a three-piece hard-top that folds down in just 20 seconds - the quickest of its type in the world (yes, the Mazda MX-5 will retract quicker, but that's a two-piece, innit?).
Naturally, the convertible shares the IS250's 2.5-litre V6 and automatic transmission, so you're not looking at a rival to the M3 convertible just yet. Well, not until Lexus wedges the five-litre V8 from the IS-F under the bonnet, anyhow.
No, the really important news here is that, even with the roof down, there's still space in the boot of the IS250C for a golf bag. Because there's nothing that ruins the suavity of rocking up to the local 18-hole course in your premium Japanese chop-top quicker than having to play your round with a ping pong bat and a bicycle pump.
The GT concept is epic
