Ford’s new premium brand headlines Geneva preview

Ford has used its eve-of-Geneva-show preview event to push again its new Vignale luxury brand. Based around a version of the long-awaited next-generation Mondeo saloon, this was our first chance to see the car up close and to get a better idea of what Ford is going to do to try and recapture its long-lost postion inthe exectuive car market.

Most significantly, the Vignale concept wears no Mondeo badging whatsoever, even though it clearly shares its body and overall styling with the new four-door. The whole idea of the brand is that it will offer the premium styling, equipment and after-sales services for the 10-15 per cent of buyers which Ford claims want more than is currently offered by its existing range-topping trim level, Titanium X.

So, the Vignale rides on rotzy 20” alloy wheels, carries extra chrome detailing and a chrome grille, LED foglights and Vignale badging.

The interior is swathed from top to bottom and side to side in high-grade leather and high-end options such as in-car wifi will be offered.

Vignale though is about more than the cars themselves. It will have its own dedictaed and separate areas within the Ford dealers that take up the brand (something that Ford is also considering for its performance ST brand) and its primary focus will be on after-sales care. There will be a ’concierge’ service for buyers looking for hotel, restaurent or entertainment bookings and, says Ford, free car washing and valeting for the life of the car. Such connected after-sales setups have proved popular with buyers in the US but have failed utterly to chime with European buyers thus far. It will be interesting to see if Ford will sway them with Vignale. The Mondeo will not be alone in its dedicated Vignale sections - the next-generation Edge SUV and the new S-Max will be joining it.

Ford also showed off its updated Focus, which gets a new front end with a bigger, bolder grille and narrower lights, a revised, higher-quality interior and new 1.5 TDCI diesel and 1.5 Ecoboost petrol engines. For more details see here:

Plugging the leaks

It's almost impossible to keep anything truly secret these days – just ask any car maker unveiling a much-awaited new model at the Geneva Motor Show tomorrow...

Much-leaked by now is the somewhat controversial Jeep Renegade. Jeep's smallest model, it shares components with the almost-defunct Fiat Punto and the forthcoming new Fiat 500X crossover. It's very, very square too and the unfortunate Postman Pat analogies haven't been helped by Jeep deciding to use red as one of the launch colours... 1.3 and 1.6 MultiJuet diesels will provide the power and in spite of the dinky dimensions, you will be able to get a full-on, four-wheel-drive 'Trail Rated' version that will tackle the fearsome Rubicon Trail in the mountains of Colorado – Jeep's unofficial-official proving ground.

A fellow leak-ee is Toyota's new Aygo, the final car in the triumvirate of Czech-built city cars which also includes the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1. Only a 1.0-litre three-pot petrol engine will be available in two tunes for now – 68hp and 82hp, and there won't be a diesel or hybrid option. They're just too expensive for such a price sensitive segment. Expect though a major ramp up in cabin quality, equipment levels and wireless device connectivity compared to the current Aygo. We're digging the fancy black-striped colour schemes too – very seventies although one commenter has already noticed its similarity to both the mask and sword-flick signature of Saturday morning serial hero, Zorro.

Honda has also let slip photos of the new Civic Type-R, the car with which it hopes to wrest the hot-hatch crown from Volkswagen, and give Mercedes AMG and BMW M a bloody pair of noses in the process. Honda is at last starting to admit that the car has more than the 280hp originally claimed (300hp+ is apparently closer to the mark) while the outrageous body kit is inspired by the World Touring Car Championship Civic.

Last on the leaks list is the Mazda 2. Sorry, Mazda Hazumi – Mazda is still insisting that this is merely a concept version of how its next small car might, maybe, possibly look. However most believe this is the new 2 in all but big alloy wheels and silly wing mirror cameras. Expect SkyActiv 1.5-litre petrol and diesel engines to feature strongly.

New Alfa Spider may be an Abarth instead

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has thrown the future of Alfa Romeo's new Spider into doubt on the eve of the Geneva Show by saying that no Alfa will be built outside of Italy as long as he is in charge of the brand. That must have come as something of a shock to Mazda, which is well into the process of gearing up to build a new Alfa Spider alongside its own new MX-5 in its home plant of Hiroshima. The plan to co-develop the two cars, and for Mazda to do the building, was cemented last year. Apparently not now though, and Fiat insiders are scrambling to mend bridges with Mazda saying that the model could instead become a simpler, more affordable Abarth-badged roadster. Fiat has been keen to give Abarth its own unique halp model for some time. But what of the Spider? Possibly this is Marchionne's way of teeing up a more expensive, more sophisticated Alfa Spider built on the new rear-drive architecture of the forthcoming (eventually) Giulia saloon. But wouldn't that then compete with the car Alfa will actually be showing off at Geneva tomorrow – the convertible version of the mid-engined 4C sports car?

However, just as the controversy was starting to swirl, Alfa Romeo’s press team pulled the rug out from all of us by Tweeting a photo of an unheralded new car or concept, awaiting its unveiling at Geneva, and hidden beneath a red dust sheet. The photo shows little other than a low-slung, broad-shouldered car with what appears to be an aggressive interpretation of Alfa’s traditional V-shaped grille. Is this the new Spider? Or the Giulia saloon? Or something else againg? Only tomorrow will tell...

Citroen is the new Vodafone

Well, sort of. Ahead of the first public unveiling of its new C4 Cactus crossover tomorrow, Citroen is saying that it could become the first car maker in Europe to offer a super-cheap pay-as-you-go leasing system which will debut alongside the Cactus. The Cactus’ low-cost (both in terms of price and running costs) is key to the plan which will see buyers pay a flat rate leasing fee, said to be in the low hundreds of Euro per month. That fee will cover the lease, insurance, maintenance and possibly local motor or road tax too. On top of that, customers will then be offered a mobile-phone style pay-as-you-go package of mileage limits. Many leases currently include a significant payment at the end of the lease period for any mileage in excess of an agreed average. Citroen’s plan would eliminate that hidden cost and allow customers to pay precisely what they want, per month, for only the mileage they use. The plans would be flexible to allow for unexpected long journeys or holiday mileage. More details of the plan should be unveiled tomorrow alongside the C4 Cactus itself.

Porsche’s Le Mans racer undisguised

Perhaps not as significant to all as some of the road cars being revealed, the Porsche 919 Hybrid is still a pretty significant debutant at Geneva. It represents the return of Porsche to the Le Mans 24hrs race, where it is still the most successful marque of all time, in spite of Audi's recent domination of the event. It is Audi that Porsche will have to beat if it wants to return to winning ways at the French classic and the 919 Hybrid is Zuffenhausen's weapon of choice. We've seen it running already, albeit heavily disguised with camouflage tape, but this is its first full public unveiling. Power comes from a radical V4 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine with hybrid assistance from a Kinetic Energy Recovery System and a heat-recovery system coupled to the car's exhaust. Australian former Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber is the team's star signing.