Paris Show: 2011 Honda Civic gets Minor Updates

Honda presented the 2011 model year version of its UK-built, European-market Civic hatch in Paris this week. The Japanese automaker's Golf rival benefits from some minor updates, mostly limited to the grille, interior fabrics and alloy wheel designs on some models.

More specifically, the Perspex grille is gone on the 5-door hatchback and it has been replaced with the same mesh grille used on the three-door Civics. A new color has also been introduced to the range: Ionized Bronze.

Inside, the base Civic gets seats trimmed in a combination of cloth and alcantara, while the special edition GT gets half leather and Alcantara as standard. The GT model also gets unique 17-inch alloy wheels, further differentiating it from the standard models.

By Tristan Hankins

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Paris Show: Chevrolet Aveo 5-door, Sedan Coming Soon [With Live Pics]

The Aveo is finally here and in the metal, and Chevy says it's aimed at younger buyers interested in a hot-hatch "looking every bit as good as the Aveo RS show car concept". Points for trying, guys, but not really...

Set to hit Europe in the summer of 2011, the Aveo 5-door will be powered by a variety of small-displacement gasoline and diesel engines (ranging from 70 to 115 horsepower) and even be available with a 6-speed stick. For all the specs on available engines and the like, check out our previous post.

The sea of black plastic has seeped out from the interior and found itself all over the exterior of the car, as evidenced by the front and rear light housings and former rear quarter window. Also, whatever was once attractive from the rear 3/4 view (like the C-pillar kink and rear end treatment) seems to have been watered down a notch.

And if the hatchback doesn't do it for you, Chevrolet should be presenting a sedan version of the car either in LA in November or in Detroit in January 2011. Anyone interested in a 180-horsepower SS version?

By Phil Alex

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September Sales USA: Chrysler up 61%, Hyundai +44%, Ford +40% and GM +11%

The numbers are in for the month of September, and for the most part, they're looking good as industry wide deliveries were up 28% over a year ago according to a report from Autonews. Chrysler Group exec should be feeling extra happy as sales soared 61 percent over the same month a year ago, rising from 62,197 to 100,077 units.

Ford Motor Co, which includes the Ford, Mercury and Lincoln brands, recorded a 40 percent gain in September with sales of 160,375 units, whilst deliveries at GM climbed a far less impressive 11 percent from a year earlier to 173,031 units.

The Hyundai Group (Hyundai and Kia) had yet another solid month posting sales of 76,627 vehicles, which represents a 44 percent increase over last year.

With a few exceptions such as Suzuki, which saw its sales slide 12 percent to an embarrassing 1,641 units (even Porsche sold more cars - 1,971 units recording a 25 percent increase), and Volvo, which reported sales of 4,152 units, a 12 percent decrease from last year, most automakers posted gains:

Toyota Group (+17% - however, Lexus was down 8,9%), Honda (+26%), Mitsubishi (+5%), BMW Group (+20.5%), Mercedes-Benz Group (+15%), VW/Audi (+14%) and Nissan/Infiniti (+34%).

Source: Autonews (sub. req)

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Ferrari's Already Sold Out SA Aperta Roadster Stops by Paris Show

The 'greener' California HELE wasn't the only new car on display at Ferrari's Paris Show stand. The 670-horsepower SA Aperta, which we reported on last week, also made its debut. All 80 examples of the limited edition, open-top 599s have been spoken for well before the car made its way to Paris.

Co-designed with Ferrari Centro Stile to celebrate 80 years of Italian design firm Pininfarina, the car was built partly as homage to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, the son and grandson respectively of company founder Battista Farina (latter Battista Pininfarina).

Like the Bugatti Veyron roadster, the SA Aperta features an emergency soft top [read: umbrella] and the same structural rigidity of the hardtop without adding any additional weight

Pricing is irrelevant as you can't buy one, at least not new. There is, however, an online configurator, which doesn't make any sense but anyways...

By Tristan Hankins

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Paris Show: Abarth 500C Esseesse with 160 Ponies

If you feel the regular Abarth 500C could benefit from a few more ponies under the hood, Fiat's performance division has the answer in the form of the Esseesse edition. The tuning package bumps output of the standard 1.4-liter turbocharged engine from 140HP and 206Nm to 160HP and 230Nm, respectively.

As a result, the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) drops 0.6 seconds to 7.5 seconds, while top speed increases from 205km/h to 209km/h (130mph).

The scorpion-branded version of Fiat's 500 rag-top convertible that was shown in Paris featured a two-tone paint job with a white chromatic line separating the two colors, and came fitted with a Record Monza exhaust silencer and unique 17-inch alloys with 5 diamond shaped spokes.

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