This could be the ultimate version of the new Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG hot hatch – the Black Series.

Caught lapping the Nurburgring by our spy photographers, the unusually-trimmed A45 AMG boasts new wheels and extra-wide wheel arches.

Early talk is it’s an early Black Series prototype – a tuned, even hotter version of the A45 fettled by AMG’s best engineers.

No word on power figures, or any specifications for that matter, but with the standard A45 AMG churning out 265kW, a Black Series variant could produce close to 300kW form its turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol.

Yikes.

Volkswagen has just ripped the covers of its new flagship hot hatch – the Golf R.

Boasting 221kW/380Nm and a 0-100km/h dash of just 4.9 seconds, it’s not only the most potent Golf ever offered, but is equipped with supercar-baiting performance.

Using the same, albeit highly tweaked, 2.0-litre turbocharged engine found in the standard Golf GTi, the R’s donk includes a new cylinder head, turbo, pistons and high-pressure injection valves.

Power is sent to all four wheels, with its standard six-speed manual shooting it from 0-100km/h in 5.3 seconds.

Mate it to VW’s dual-clutch DSG, though, and it’ll crack 4.9 seconds to 100km/h – that’s Porsche 911 rivalling territory.

The Golf R will officially be launched at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, with Aussie customers having to wait until the first half of 2014 before it arrives Down Under.

Ferrari has just revealed the fastest, hardest 458 Italia ever – the Speciale.

Following the smoking tyre tracks of fellow race-bred specials the 430 Scuderia and 360 Challenge Stradale, the 458 Speciale has more grunt, less weight and advanced, active aerodynamics.

Think of it as the most hardcore 458 money can buy.

Power comes from the same 4.5-litre V8, but output has been upped by 26kW to take total grunt to 445kW.

Interestingly, its specific output of almost 100kW per litre makes it the most powerful natural-aspirated engine ever built by the Prancing Horse.

As with all of its track-focused cars, Ferrari’s weight-saving has been brutal, with carbon seats and panels, lightweight wheels and a stripped-out interior shaving a further 90kg to take total weight to just 1290kg.

As for the ‘active aero’, Ferrari has revealed elements of both the front and rear spoilers bend and move under load to ‘balance downforce and cut drag’ – a feature likely to become standard on all future Ferraris.

Further details won’t be unveiled until the Speciale’s official debut at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

No, this isn’t the new Batmobile. It’s much crazier than that.

Officially called the Laraki Motors Epitome Concept, the car you see here is an insane $2 million hypercar with 1305kW and a quad-turbocharged 7.0-litre V8.

Unveiled at last weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, it’s the brainchild of a Californian start-up company funded by Moroccan yacht and car designer Abdeslam Laraki.

Sadly, as it’s priced from US$2 million, chances of Laraki building the 1400kg carbon-fibre Epitome concept (at least in large numbers) are slim, despite the company’s boss revealing it has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.

Shame…

Photos Copyright Laraki Motors / More Photos

Here it is: the new Subaru BRZ tS – the car we were all hoping would be the much-anticipated, turbocharged BRZ STi.

Teased by STi a few weeks ago, shots of the tS’s grill and badges sent the internet into a spin with many predicting Subaru’s tuning arm was finally working on a more powerful, forced-induction variant of its hugely popular sports coupe.

Instead, Subaru says the tS – which has just launched in Japan – will offer drivers better handling, not more grunt, through a raft of changes to its suspension and brake package.

Think of it as Japan’s version of the BRZ S, which launched in Australia earlier this year.

Improvements to the BRZ tS include bigger Brembo brakes, revised suspension and a new STi front-splitter and body kit.

It all sounds good, but where’s the STi version we’re all waiting for?

No, that’s not a typo in the headline. This Toyota Yaris – a tiny city car – has 300kW.

And technology gleaned from Toyota’s TS030 Le Mans racing car. And something called a ‘super-capacitor’.

Officially it’s called the Yaris Hybrid-R Concept – a bonkers design study built to preview Toyota’s ability to produce high-performance hybrids that actually involve the driver.

Not just boring ones like the Prius.

Essentially a quasi-racer, the Hybrid-R uses a Toyota Motorsport-designed 1.6-litre petrol engine, tied to two electric motors that shift the power to all four wheels.

Like Toyota’s Le Mans racer, hitting the brake pedal sees the Yaris store the spent energy in a ‘super-capacitor’, which is then syphoned back into the power train to give extra grunt.

Toyota will officially unveil the Yaris Hybrid-R Concept at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

Dutch supercar goes topless

Meet the Spyker B6 Venator Spyder concept – the Dutch supercar maker’s newest topless model.

Unveiled overnight at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Spyder concept comes just five months after Spyker revealed the B6 Venator coupe at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Powered by a 280kW 3.5-litre V6, the Spyder is identical to the coupe, bar its removable roof.

That means the power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic ’box and a kerb weight of 1400kg. Oh and the same, beautifully-crafted interior.

Tipped to enter production next year, early talk is the Spyder will be priced from US$150,000.

The news just keeps getting better for Aussie Mustang fans.

Just days after confirming its iconic Pony car will arrive Down Under in 2015, news has emerged the next Ford Mustang will be significantly smaller and lighter.

Tipped to be almost 15-inches shorter and 6-inches narrower, the 2015 Mustang is also expected to lose almost 200kg – a massive boon for both performance and economy.

The downsizing of the Mustang is said to mirror Ford’s aim to sell it in Europe, with the 2015 model expected to be unveiled at next year’s Detroit Auto Show in January.

It might be on again/off again, but Mazda says it would welcome, not fear, the Toyota 86 Convertible if it’s eventually built.

With the coupe 86 already stealing the Mazda MX-5’s thunder, many tipped a convertible 86 would be the final nail in the coffin for Mazda’s iconic, but significantly more expensive, roadster.

But speaking exclusively to Wheels, Mazda Australia MD Martin Benders said a convertible 86 would only be a good thing and even suggested it could see Mazda build an MX-5 coupe.

“Look whether they build it or not, in many ways we would welcome the convertible 86,” he said. “I still see it as a different car to the MX-5, but if it does arrive hopefully it will inject some more interest into that segment of car which can only be a good thing for us as well.

“And we obviously need to be a bit smarted in how we operate with the MX-5. I’ll admit my eyes were opened in Europe because they’re still selling three or four thousand MX-5’s in the UK, even this late in its life. And of course the new MX-5 is going to be a good-looking thing, it’s just a matter of how we can, a bit like Mini I guess, broaden its outlook.

“At the moment the new MX-5 will just be a replacement for the current one, but there must be a way of doing more with that car. Maybe we could go the other way and build a coupe? We do a retractable hard top now, but who knows, there’s definitely other things we can do.”

Hyundai has launched a limited-edition ‘Street’ version of its popular Veloster hatch.

Priced from $24,990 the new model, to be sold exclusively in Australia, is pitched as a sporty, yet cheaper, alternative to the brand’s performance flagship Veloster Turbo.

Inspired by the ‘Street’ concept car shown at the 2012 Australian Motor Show, it uses the same sports suspension as the Turbo, yet is powered by the standard Veloster’s 103kW/166Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

But while it doesn’t get more grunt, the Street does boast a raft of visual changes to separate it from the rest of the range including exclusive ‘Sonic Silver’ metallic paint, 18-inch alloy wheels with red inserts and red leather upholstery.

Available with either a six-speed manual or six-speed dual-clutch automatic, the Veloster Street is on sale now.