Swiss automotive innovators Rinspeed have revealed their latest crazy contraption: the Dock+Go.

While it may sound like an iPod charger, the Dock+Go is actually a trailer system that can be hooked onto a smart ForTwo to exponentially improve its limited practicality. For instance, it can be hooked up to increase cargo space, provide more power via an internal combustion engine, extend the electric range of the ForTwo by holding more batteries, keep pizzas warm for delivery drivers, or become a mobile party unit with the optional Harman sound system.

The Dock+Go system’s main downside is that an extra axle – and two wheels – are added, inevitably causing handling issues.

Production of the Dock+Go is still up in the air, with Rinspeed saying they are in talks with a number of potential manufacturers.

Audi has revealed first images of the facelifted 2012 RS5.

The new 2012 Audi RS5 coupe follows the recent release of the archetypal fast estate, the Audi RS4 Avant, and inherits much of the technology seen in the latest iteration of the German firm’s warp speed family carrier.

The 2012 RS5 is exciting primarily because of its stonking 4.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 pushing out 331kW – for an engine of that size to produce its maximum power spinning at 8,250rpm is a brilliant feat of engineering.

This means 0-100km/h is dispatched in 4.5 seconds while the RS5 will run on to an electronically-limited top speed of 250km/h, or, 282km/h if buyers choose to specify the cost option of removing the limiter.

MINI has launched its most controversial new concept model yet – a two-seat MINI van concept that aims to be a must have for premium small businesses.

The new MINI Clubvan Concept will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show 2012, as MINI tests the water for a likely production version of the totally unique new model.

MINI says the Clubvan is a new compact van for business and leisure: ‘the first premium model in the small car-based van segment’.

As the name suggests, the MINI Clubvan is based on the MINI Clubman. It is a simple conversion too, as there are no major changes to bodywork or mechanical structure. The wheelbase is no longer, and the rear panels are the same – the glass has simply been replaced with body-coloured polycarbonate panels.

MINI has retained the layout of the Clubman for the Clubvan. Its twin rear doors have heavily tinted glass windows so people can’t see in. The side Clubdoor also remains, giving this the rather ingenious added feature of easy side access (no rival can match that). Shame it’s on the ‘road’ side for Aussie cars…

However, despite apparently being controversial, there is a rich history to call upon. The Mini van has been around almost as long as the Mini itself: the modern MINI brand will be hoping to use some of this heritage to ensure the Clubvan wins plenty of headlines when it debuts at Geneva Motor Show 2012.

Aston Martin has facelifted the Vantage range for 2012 with the new line-up of sportscars debuting at the Geneva Motor Show 2012 next month.

Changes are focused on the V8 Vantage, which now gets a seven-speed Sportshift II transmission, plus revisions to the chassis that, says Aston, enhance the car’s feel, response and control. There is also a subtle new look inspired by the firms’ motorsport activities.

Aston has fitted what it calls ‘race-derived’ side sills, while at the rear, there is a new diffuser. The tyres are also 10mm wider and they house revised brakes. Overall, the changes clean up the lines of the V8 Vantage, without radically reinventing the appearance of the baby Aston.

Further up the range, the Vantage S produces 316kW from its tuned 4.7-litre V8, and will again be more responsive on the move thanks to the new seven-speed gearbox. Vantage S models also get a bespoke exhaust system, plus a more sporting aerodynamic package detailed in carbon fibre.

WHERE to start with the Holden Volt? I’ll assume you know this is GM’s plug-in electric car with a range-extender petrol engine. So let’s kick off with a few disparate facts…

Floor the throttle in a Volt and, assuming there’s sufficient charge in the battery, it will accelerate to its maximum speed of 160km/h without using its petrol engine. The car’s 0-100km/h time is a claimed 9.0 seconds. Its main electric traction motor develops 111kW and 370Nm, with 320Nm available instantly from standstill. There’s also a smaller auxiliary generator motor rated at 55kW. Volt has a total driving range of more than 550km, with an electric-only range of 40-to-80km.

The Volt’s petrol engine is a 1.4-litre GM unit shared with the Holden Cruze (minus the Cruze’s turbo). The car’s 200kg, 16kWh, 288-cell lithium-ion battery takes four to five hours to charge from a standard 10Amp Australian socket (the other electric cars currently on sale in Australia – Mitsubishi iMiev and Nissan Leaf – require 15Amp sockets to charge). If charged daily from the mains, the Volt will not use its 1.4-litre petrol range-extender at all in normal driving – in a year, Jay Leno has travelled more than 16,000km in his Volt in Los Angeles without once having to put petrol in the car. However, he has used fuel: the car will initiate an engine maintenance mode every 42 days, in which it starts the engine, gets it up to operating temperature and runs it for 10 minutes.

It would take four and a half years to deplete a full tank of fuel through the engine maintenance mode alone. But fuel degrades in the tank. So after a year, the Volt goes into fuel maintenance mode, in which it starts the engine and runs the tank dry. It will give you plenty of warning that this is about to happen.

The Holden Volt shares its platform with Cruze – it weighs 1696kg, 247kg more than an automatic Cruze 1.4 SRi-V hatch. Its co-efficient of drag is 0.28. Its centre of gravity is 30mm lower than that of a Cruze. Its fuel tank sits behind the battery and has a 36-litre capacity. Its official EU fuel economy figure is 1.2L/100km.

As you’ve probably gathered by now, this is no ordinary car. And most of the facts you’ve just read were churning around in my brain before I pressed the ‘start’ button and moved away at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground for a short drive. It felt like a special moment, an experience in a game-changing car – mainly because it was.

Okay, job one: nail the throttle pedal. With zero engine noise (other than a very slight ‘zim’) but plenty of torque, this thing goes well and will not be left behind in cut-and-thrust traffic. It’s quick enough, all the way up to very illegal speeds. Wind and road noise are surprisingly well-supressed, too. The car feels solid and dense and well-engineered. It corners well, with limited roll, decent steering and a compliant ride. The cockpit feels sufficiently special and high-tech to help justify its estimated $60,000 price in Australia, and its efficiency and driving modes are beautifully displayed both on the dash and in the centre console screen. You are encouraged to keep a large green ball in the centre of a bar by using gentle throttle applications. Go too hard and the ball rises and turns orange. It’s fun and intuitive and easy to use.

The car has three main driving modes, which it shifts between seamlessly and automatically. First is EV only (charge depleting) mode. The second is extended range mode, where it uses the petrol engine to sustain a minimum amount of charge in the battery once the main charge is depleted. In this mode, the engine is effectively ‘catching up’ with what you’ve just done, driving charge back into the battery in equal proportion to the amount taken out. So if you’ve been driving with a heavy right foot – as I had – and come to a standstill, you hear the petrol engine whirring away to recharge. With a gentle throttle and plenty of engine and brake regeneration, the petrol engine won’t be needed often to keep that minimum charge constant. It cuts in with supreme smoothness, too, inaudible at low revs.

The third driving mode is the only one in which the Volt’s petrol engine drives the wheels directly through the car’s planetary gear set and the auxilliary motor. It only happens at speeds above 80km/h and with the battery at minimum charge. In this mode, the Volt is as close as it ever gets to being a conventional ICE car.

In the vast bulk of its normal working life, however, the Volt will operate as an electric car, one you plug in to charge, with potentially zero emissions (subject to how the electricity was generated) and no range anxiety.

We’ll wait until we get the car onto a road for a proper assessment, but on this short run on a test course, it proved itself quiet, fast enough, and superbly engineered. Good enough to be my first tip for 2012 Car of the Year.

IT MAY be overstating the local arrival of BMW’s turbocharged, four-cylinder N20 engine as a ‘new dawn’ for the Munich brand, but its debut in the Z4 roadster took place at Mt Warning in north-eastern NSW. This easternmost peak is the first part of mainland Australia to be touched by the sun; a fact of perhaps greatest significance to geography geeks, and to Christmas-addled journalists scratching for a story intro.

Robbo covered some of the detail of the N20 engine in last month’s European first drive of the F30 3 Series. We’ll go into it more in the breakouts, as this turbo-four replacement for the brand-shaping N52 in-line six will be the backbone of BMW’s local range, being shortly destined for volume 3- and 5 Series models.

It’s not just the engineers who’ve done their job well: the marketing department’s had to push itself, too, as the two versions of the 2.0-litre N20 engine – 135kW ‘20i’ and 180kW ‘28i’ – are physically identical in all but electronic tune and exhaust system aft of the turbo.

The entry Z4 sDrive20i kicks off at $76,900, or $12.5K less than the 28i. Not that there’s much wrong with the 20i. In the Z4 family, it replaces the 2.5-litre 23i and costs $5000 less. The turbo four offers 20 fewer kilowatts, but 20Nm more torque than the old six. According to BMW, it is a couple of tenths slower 0-100km/h (now 6.9sec), while the speed of progress is made more deceptive by an understated exhaust note and a disappointingly rubbery action to the standard six-speed manual.

But feel the green: the 20i averages 6.8L/100km (versus 8.5 for the atmo six) and chuffs out just 157g/km of CO2, versus 199. Manual-trans versions get an econo head start with stop-start.

We drove the $89,400 28i immediately after the Z4 35iS, this twin-turbo flagship (and the lesser-specced 35i) now the only six-cylinder left in the range. More cubes don’t make for more car: the six-cylinder’s steering lacks edge and turn-in responsiveness, and always seems to need an extra bite of lock to keep that broad, clamshell bonnet tucked in to the apex.

The 28i runs away from it for driving enjoyment. According to the figures, the 1400-1420kg (manual and auto) 28i is only 10-15kg lighter than the superseded 30i – but it’s about 100kg lighter than the luxed-up 35i, and it sure felt it. The 28i is usefully crisper in its steering, lighter on its feet, all the while maintaining the unbudgeable front-end grip that characterises the Z4’s chassis.

The 180kW/350Nm engine has a twangy, elastic-band feel to its responsiveness and acceleration. The flat, almost diesel-like clacking at idle takes on a strange, yet stirring exhaust growl as the revs quickly rise.

Making it even more enjoyable is the brilliant eight-speed auto, a $3500 option that looks a no-brainer alongside not only the sloppy manual, but the 35iS’s seven-speed dual-clutch. The auto does a far better job of intuiting the 28i’s character and its driver’s commands, and its left-down, right-up paddles are more logical than the other’s dual rockers.

Contemplating the surroundings, the 28i does all this for you with 21 percent better fuel consumption (6.8L/100km, like the 20i) and 159g/km CO2.

On the often lumpy rural roads, the 28i also rode the best of the Z4s, its standard 17in wheels (the smallest there) offering no less in terms of grip or enjoyment. Nothing fazes the Z4’s front end, and while suspension damping and control are pretty well spot-on, the rear end does get upset by stutter bumps. The bum-over-rear-axle layout occasionally has your kidneys wishing for more suspension travel.

For a little roadster, though, it doesn’t feel all that little. A girth mid-way between the 3- and 5 Series sedans was apparent on these roads. Still, with the steel roof folded down, there are few nicer ways to greet the sun.

TRES SORRY, monsieur, but we didn’t think much of the original, now superseded Citroen C4. Okay, after its bland predecessor, the Xsara, the C4 was a jump forward. The styling was daring and different, the features clever and far-reaching.

Acknowledgment of this came with the coupe version’s win in the 2005 Wheels Automotive Design Awards. And the 1.6-litre turbo version went well enough, with commendable fuel economy.

There was also no end of chest thumping about the C4’s WRC successes, primarily in the sure hands of Sebastian Loeb. It would be churlish of us to point out that production versions of the C4 were not offered with AWD…

The ride of the original C4 was a massive fail when French brands pride themselves on a finely developed suspension tune that nods to both comfort and driver obedience. In its favour, the C4 has pulled more femmes to the brand, and reduced the age of Citroen owners. But sales here have been modest.

With so much relying on enhancing consumer appeal, the second-gen C4 needed to lift in order to take the fight to the small-car segment’s tough competition – Mazda 3, VW Golf, Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla.

The latest hatch’s styling is arguably more conservative and functional, with squared-off roofline to better accommodate rear-seat passengers. Slightly larger outside, it’s also roomier inside. The 380-litre boot, easily exploitable, is the largest in the class. The fixed-hub wheel has gone, replaced by Citroen’s justification that airbag design can be optimised with the reversion to the traditional steering hub.

Keener pricing and generous equipment levels help the early positive impressions. There are three trim levels with hints of upmarket boudoirs about the nomenclature: Attraction, Seduction and Exclusive. The base 1.6-litre 88kW Attraction, which starts at $22,990, gets plenty of gear, with standard auto, ABS and ESC supplemented by six airbags, traction control, cruise, dual-zone air, remote locking, trip computer, a speed limiter and steering wheel controls for the cruise and iPod. It also carries a five-star Euro safety rating. No Bluetooth, though. It, and more equipment, is offered as the buyer climbs the C4 totem.

Initially Australia and New Zealand received the five-door hatch with one of two petrol engines or a diesel – all 1.6-litre fours and all Euro V compliant – the petroleum sippers (one atmo, the other a turbo) are BMW designed and also do duty in Fords, Minis and Peugeots. The range-topping e-HDi with electro-robotic shift landed late last year.

The C4 Aircross soft-roader is heading here third quarter, this year. Pricing and specification are yet to be determined.

We sampled the turbo-diesel and the turbo petrol. The oiler won us over with its refinement, easy driveability and worthy fuel efficiency. It’s no missile in a straight line, but the enhanced ride comes with no loss of handling surety. You don’t notice the extra weight of the diesel engine up front. The C4 turns in to corners with poise not evident in its predecessor. Loved the direct and positive shift quality of the diesel’s six-speed manual, too.

Anyone with legs much longer than David Warner’s mightn’t like the close relationship between pedals and tiller, and the clutch pedal travels farther than Burke and Wills. Offsetting these issues are excellent seats that proved their worth on the bumpier, tighter roads.

The cabin is a pleasant space, with trim both easy on the eye and to the touch. Overall, a welcome progression.

Back at the 2010 Geneva show Audi revealed the A1 e-tron. Since the Germans are forever fielding far-fetched future-tech furphies as frivolous concept-car fodder, only cursory attention was paid to this electric vehicle … until, unbelievably, we heard “…with rotary engine range extender”.

Could Felix Wankel’s finest (or folly, if you’ve ever owned a gas-guzzling, oil-suckling, carbon-coughing rotary that just won’t start) actually survive beyond the Mazda RX-8 … and in an Audi, no less? Or are the Ingolstadt boffins swigging bong water?

Quick rewind. Audi merged with rival NSU in 1969 after the latter’s unreliable rotary-pioneering Ro80 masterpiece sent it bust … and straight into the waiting arms of new overlord Volkswagen.

So there’s poetic justice in Audi reconsidering vanquished tech as part of possible future mobility solutions – especially considering that the A1’s styling draws inspiration from NSU’s pretty Prinz 1200TT.

Back to the future, the A1 e-tron’s specs entice: 75kW/240Nm electric motor for a 50km range, while a rear-mounted rotary extends that another 200km. But you’d better banish notions of a shrieking electric/rotary firecracker. The reality is Audi’s Wankel produces just 15kW, operates mostly at one efficient preset rev point, and only partly recharges the batteries, with no direct drive to any wheels. This range extender sounds as potent as herbal Viagra.

Not that testing the range was possible during our morning with it in Japan. Audi stipulated only 6km of driving. Sliding inside, apart from a glorified charge meter in lieu of a tacho, the e-tron is pure A1. A press of a button, a couple of clicks, and a melodic hum later, we’re good to go. Faced with selecting either electric drive (D) or EV with rotary range extender back-up (marked by the famous rotor symbol), we settled for the second option.

And then we’re off. Instantly. Pedal pressed down hard, the e-tron defers to performance mode so the full-fat 75kW/240Nm is fast-tracked through to the front wheels. Accompanied by an alluring ascending jet-plane soundtrack, it feels futuristic, feisty, fun and refined – even flat out at a capped 130km/h.

Easing off the joules means the EV reverts to ‘continuous’ 45kW/150Nm everyday mode, but there’s still sufficient squirt on tap in the two-up e-tron for some rapid manoeuvres. Impressive.

But then the generator – err, rotary – starts like a blender set to medium speed. No spine tingling revving, no extra oomph, just a dreary 5000rpm drone. It may as well be a labouring CVT. What a bummer.

Bamix rotary aside, there was precious little else to ascertain after just 5km on the ultra-smooth Hakone Turnpike.

Clearly, though, the brilliance in the A1 e-tron is its electric motor, not the wailing Wankel installation. More development work is required. The din from the rear is hardly premium.

Perhaps Audi ought to leave the rotary to Mazda (or its history), concentrate on the proper emissions-free A3 e-tron and let bygones be.

The Peugeot GTi hot hatch will return at Geneva Motor Show next month with the reveal of the Peugeot GTi Concept.

The new hot hatch version of the Peugeot 208 supermini is currently being called a concept but it is certain to make production, in pretty much the form today’s images reveal – which is great news for hot hatch fans everywhere.

The new model certainly looks the part. Peugeot has beefed up the bodywork of the GTi Concept with aerodynamic lower spoilers and chunky side sill extensions. The front bumper has a sharply-cut lower splitter extension and the chrome-framed grille has black metal mesh.

At the rear, there is a huge roof spoiler and an aero-tuned bumper with diffuser insert. The twin exhaust tailpipes are also chrome-finished. There are polished 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels, with one spoke carrying a neat red pinstripe.

Peugeot has fitted the 147kW 1.6-litre THP turbo engine from the RCZ to the GTi Concept. In that car, it hits 100km/h in 7.6 seconds – but the 208 is much lighter than the 308-based RCZ, so performance will be even better.

It’s actually the same engine as used in the MINI Cooper S. The Peugeot’s power output places it between this variant and the tuned-up John Cooper Works version: our bets are thus on 0-100km/h taking around 6.5 seconds, with a top speed of just under 240km/h.

Peugeot is calling the GTi Concept a study at the moment. Be in no doubt though, it will make it to market, as the Peugeot 208 GTi. We reckon the production version will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show in September, prior to it going on sale towards the tail end of 2012.

Kia has released further details of its all-new 2012 Cee’d hatchback ahead of the car’s debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The new Cee’d, which shares its platform with the latest Hyundai i30, is certainly a striking looking piece of design, receiving the Korean firm’s now familiar “tiger-nose” grille, as well as some new aggressive wraparound headlamps with integrated LEDs.

Inside, Kia is keen to demonstrate how far it’s progressed from its budget origins, endowing the new Cee’d’s interior with higher quality switchgear and a touchscreen infotainment system.

As yet, Kia has not confirmed what engines will power the new Cee’d, but expect a similar line-up to the current car. This will mean an engine range from the current entry-level 65kW 1.4-litre petrol unit to the range-topping 93kW 1.6-litre turbodiesel.

Expect Kia’s eco-focussed ISG start-stop technology to feature too, helping improve the new Cee’d’s efficiency.

We still won’t see the Cee’d here however – it’s for European markets only.