They say you can’t take it with you, so why not spend all your grandchildren’s inheritance on this Phantom hearse from Rolls Royce?

For around $650,000 you’ll get the most stylish, luxurious and comfortable funeral procession money can buy. Not that you’ll be able to appreciate it by that point, though.

The behemoth Roller measures over 23 feet in length (or 7m in Gen-Y speak), making it the longest model currently available from the British marque. The extra inches are obviously due to the addition of a large rear cargo area for transporting the deceased, which is made entirely from over 600 individual pieces of aluminium.

The vehicle’s designers also decided to keep the Phantom’s rear doors, so up to five people can travel with their dearly departed.

Also carried over from the standard Phantom is the 333kW, 6.12-litre V12 engine. Good luck to the rest of the procession keeping up with that on the way to the cemetery.

The company responsible for the Phantom hearse, Biemme Special Cars, will officially unveil their creation at the upcoming Tan Expo funeral home show in Bologona, Italy.

Should be a heart-stopper (sorry).

Fuel economy has been the bane of Australia’s large locally-built rear-wheel drive cars, but Holden is hoping it will now become an asset courtesy of the new dedicated LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) Commodore launched this week.

The Commodore’s new locally-developed vapour-injection system mates with the 3.6-litre V6 engine and is available in Omega, Berlina, SV6 and special edition Equipe sedans and Sportwagons, the Omega and SV6 utes and the Caprice luxury long wheelbase saloon.

Holden claims a best combined fuel consumption rate of 11.8L/100km for the Omega and Berlina sedans and a CO2 rate of just 189g CO2/km.

The system will costs an added $2500, exactly the same as the recently introduced liquid-phase injection system in the Ford Falcon EcoLPi and private buyers will be able to reclaim $2000 through a federal government rebate.

But its small cars rather than Falcon that Holden has in its sights. Because of the huge price advantage of the local fuel, LPG Commodores should be hundreds of dollars cheaper to refuel per annum than small cars like the Mazda3 that have knocked it from the top of the national sales perch.

Sales revenge may be wishful thinking, but the quality of the system is obvious. Wheels’ first drive of the LPG Commodore was an experience virtually indistinguishable from the petrol version. While both torque and power are down, they are produced at lower revs, the maximum 320Nm chiming in at particularly helpful 2000rpm.

Holden’s LPG development program has been a comprehensive one. The 3.6-litre drivetrain has had substantial internal alteration; the lighter GM 6L45 automatic has been substituted for the 6L50 usually found in Commodore V6s; a larger aluminium fuel tank provides a range of more than 700km and it has been moved forward so the boot capacity decreases only 10 litres to 486 litres.

The big loss is space for a proper spare tyre and, apparently, a big chunk of your fuel bill.

Mercedes tuning specialist Brabus has revealed its ‘sports car with a green heart’, the Brabus smart fortwo electric drive, ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show this week.

Sure it looks cool, but we can’t let Brabus get away with having the audacity to ever label a smart fortwo a ‘sports car’. And especially an all-electric one at that.

The fact that power has increased to 60kW and 135Nm has made them think they can fill the accompanying press release with some hilarious gems like “it almost always wins when pulling away at the traffic lights”. Err… ok, sure. Maybe against other smart cars.

Despite these wild claims, the Brabus fortwo does receive new sports suspension and bigger wheels for a sportier ride. However it also gets a fake engine sound generated by a sound module.

So it won’t be the quickest car to debut at Geneva on Wednesday, but we’re tipping there’s a good chance it’ll be the most laughed at.

Italian car styler and coachbuilder Bertone has released preview pictures of its Lancia Stratos-inspired sports car, the Nuccio, ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

The Nuccio concept will be powered by a 4.3-litre V8 producing 360kW, which will sit just ahead of the rear axle.

The Nuccio takes its name from Giuseppe ‘Nuccio’ Bertone, who headed the company for many years and was the son of company founder Giovanni Bertoni.

More details and pictures will be revealed when the Geneva Motor Show opens to the press on March 6.

One week out from the Geneva Motor Show, Honda has given us a glimpse of the CR-V European prototype. The concept reveals a near-final version of the all-new fourth-generation CR-V, and offers Australian customers a peek at what the car that will arrive here will look like.

New exterior features for the next-gen Honda include remodelled headlights, LED daytime running lights, a new radiator grill design and tweaked bumpers.

Inside, the new CR-V gets a colour information display, reversing camera and Bluetooth connectivity.

Engines details have not been revealed, but expect the petrol to produce around 140kW and improve upon the old model’s fuel efficiency, while a diesel option should be available as well.

The first official shots of Infiniti’s new mid-engined hybrid, the Emerg-E, have been released ahead of the concept’s debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

The Emerg-E will be powered by a range-extender hybrid powertrain, meaning its petrol engine will recharge the car’s batteries that power the electric motor.

Although performance figures are yet to be confirmed, the Emerg-E is likely to be fairly quick if its supercar looks are anything to go by.

Citroen has revealed a surprise DS4 Racing concept car for the Geneva Motor Show 2012. The high-performance new variant has been developed by multiple WRC winners Citroen Racing and packs a potent 188kW 1.6-litre turbo engine.

While it is currently being billed as a concept car, it seems almost certain Citroen will put the hot DS4 Racing into production, as a potent new rival to the VW Golf R, Seat Leon Cupra and the much-mooted hot Ford Focus ST.

Citroen has visually turned the DS4 into a real road racer. It has lowered it by 35mm and widened the track by 55mm at the front and a full 75mm at the rear. Compete with 19-inch alloys (which fill the wheelarches brilliantly) and a brace of wings and spoilers, this means the DS4 Racing has immense visual purpose.

Citroen Racing has also tuned the engine. Its headline 188kW from 1.6-litres means it produces a staggering 118kW per litre, a record for a Citroen car. Despite this, it is also surprisingly green: Citroen claims CO2 emissions (via sporty twin exhausts) of 155g/km.

This is the 2012 BMW 640d xDrive – and that last bit is important. The German manufacturer’s xDrive moniker is significant because it means instead of power just being sent to the rear, as is conventional for any BMW, the car’s front wheels receive drive too.

The 640d xDrive retains all the standard features of the normal big BMW GT – that means a decent 460-litre boot, four-seats and plenty of refinement thanks to a liberal dose of premium equipment.

The xDrive variant of BMW’s 6 Series coupe musters 230kW and a solid 630Nm of torque between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm courtesy of the firm’s familiar twin-turbo 3.0-litre litre straight-six diesel engine.

Coupled to a four-wheel-drive system, the 640d xDrive will hit 100km/h from rest in 5.2 seconds – 0.3 seconds quicker than the time BMW quotes for the standard 640d, the increase in weight from the four-wheel-drive transmission offset by the extra traction it affords off the line.

Land Rover will reveal a shock Range Rover Evoque Convertible concept at the Geneva Motor Show 2012 next month – and if public reaction is positive, it could be given the go ahead for series production.

If Land Rover does give it the green light, the Range Rover Evoque Convertible could go on sale by 2014.

Land Rover is billing the new Range Rover Evoque Convertible as the world’s first premium convertible SUV. If it does reach production, it will once again break new ground in the SUV sector and outsmart rivals: the chance to again be innovative with something genuinely different is thus why Land Rover is building the Range Rover Evoque Convertible.

The new machine looks radically different to the current Range Rover Evoque Coupe and five-door range, boasting a completely open cabin uncluttered by roll bars with the roof down (automatic pop-up safety bars provide protection during rollover incidents).

The exposed interior, combined with the high seating position of the Range Rover Evoque, will give a truly unique vantage point for occupants, and it is this added appeal that Land Rover hopes will appeal to buyers. It also makes the Range Rover Evoque even more distinctive-looking, particularly as Land Rover has cleverly integrated twin buttresses into the tonneau cover for the roof.

BMW has revealed a hot turbocharged six-cylinder Concept M135i model that also showcases the 1 Series three-door bodystyle for the first time.

The new BMW Concept M135i will be presented at the Geneva Motor Show 2012 as a concept but expect the three-door bodystyle to go on sale later in the year – with the new BMW M Performance M135i model possibly acting as a high performance halo for the range.

The front end is much more aggressive, with an M design front apron boasting large air intakes to feed the turbos and cool the brakes. 3D flaps on the air intakes give a motorsport link.

BMW has released no power or performance figures other than saying it has ‘more than 300bhp’, but it seems a fair bet the engine will be the same 225kW twinscroll-turbo 3.0-litre six-cylinder as seen in the BMW 335i. In the 3 Series, it hits 250km/h and can reach 100km/h from rest in 5.5 seconds.