Europeans searching for a new Volkswagen camper van need not be forced into the latest California or Caravelle. In fact, brand new second-generation Microbuses are now available through Volkswagen’s Dutch distributor.

Although the T2 “bay window” Bus was replaced in Europe by the Vanagon in late 1979, it wasn’t eradicated from the globe altogether. Other markets in Africa and South America continued to build the van. Presently, Volkswagen do Brasil is the lone keeper of the T2 flame; although the so-called Kombi now sports an updated dash panel, a water-cooled 1.4-litre I-4, and a radiator mounted up front, it’s largely identical to the last T2s built in Germany decades ago.

European enthusiasts have been importing these Brazilian Buses for years, but this latest venture is somewhat interesting, seeing as VW’s official Dutch distributor is getting in on the action. Better yet, the company also allows customers to customize the vehicle.

Features like a two-burner LP stove, refrigerator, wash basin, camping toilet, fold-down rear bench seat, and rotating front seats are standard, but buyers have quite a bit of say in how the completed Bus looks. VW adds a two-tone exterior paint scheme, and buyers will have their choices from more than 20 accent colors. Interior trim is a little more limited, but the fabric choices are still quite varied, and included retro plaid patterns as well. Perhaps more impressive are the cabinets – gone are the tacky, dark units of old; in their place are modern birch fixtures with matching flooring.

Exterior options include a retro-shaped wooden luggage rack, sporty five-spoke wheels, lowering springs, chromed bumpers and exterior trim, and a faux spare tire cover, which does a great job of hiding the front radiator and making the new Bus look old.

The Kombis runs between 45,000 and 56,000 Euros.

As the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show fast approaches, automakers are starting to roll out their previews with Subaru not missing out on the opportunity to do so with their all new XV; Suzuki with their new Swift Sport and of course Hyundai, who cant seem to wait to pull the covers off their new i30.

The Korean automaker has just released the first rendering of the next-generation i30 C-segment hatchback which is scheduled to, as well as a multitude of other cars, debut next month.

Like the current model, the 2012 i30 was designed and engineered at Hyundai’s technical centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany and it is designed specifically to appeal to the European market, with the hatchback donning the brand’s fluidic sculpture styling as well as the hexagonally shaped front grille.

This means that the 2012 i30 shares a lot of common design features with Hyundai’s more recent models like the ix20, the ix35, the Veloster and the i40.

As for the 2012 i30 powertrain options, Hyundai has yet to release such information but do expect it to be packed out with a wide range of fuel-efficient petrol and diesel four-cylinder engine variants once it reaches European showrooms.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Europe’s Fiesta nameplate, Ford has released a special version of the Fiesta hatchback called the “Ford Fiesta Sport Special Edition”. This special edition includes further enhancements to both inside and out.

So what is Ford offering their customers in this new special edition hatchback? The Fiesta Sport Special Edition comes with two engine options, the most potent of which is the 1.6L Duratec Ti-VCT petrol unit delivering 134bhp and 160Nm torque at 4,250rpm.

Combined with a close-ratio gearing and a redeveloped exhaust system, the special edition Fiesta with the petrol engine completes the 0-100km/h acceleration in 8.7 seconds and has a top speed of 195km/h.

The other option is a 1.6L turbo diesel producing 95bhp that returns 107g of CO2 and a combined fuel economy of 4.1L/100km.

A full styling kit, complete with lowered side skirts with aggressive spoilers treatments up front and on the rear hatch and a chrome-accented grille is also part of the package as are a Panther Black 17” alloy wheels on the petrol version and 16” on the diesel.

Plus, the special edition model is available exclusively as a three-door model with customers having a choice of seven exterior colours including a flat black finish.

While the interior feature Ebony Black heated leather sports seats with silver stitching, and an identically upholstered steering wheel with gloss black spokes.

Unfortunately, this special edition Fiesta will not be available in our local market, instead it will be offered to most European markets, but if its a Fiesta, it’s worth talking about!

BMW has unveiled a new M Sport tuning package for the 2012 3-Series alongside a special European Exclusive Edition package available for both the Coupe and the Convertible.

The 2012 3 Series Exclusive Edition will offer customers with a new 18” V-spoke light-alloy wheels in addition to a unique Mineral Grey exterior paint.

Inside, the Edition Exclusive package adds Dakota leather upholstery, optional exclusive Pearl Grey with grey contrast stitching, or in black with white contrast stitching, floor mats with colour-coordinated piping and interior trim strips in Bamboo Grain Anthracite.

But the most interesting news you are about to hear for the rest of us who is not in Europe is that BMW will also offer customers, a new 2012 3 Series M Sport Edition with a slightly sharper performance edge.

The M Sport Editions package will include a new suspension, an exclusive Silverstone paint finish familiar from the M3 and 18” Ferric Grey light-alloy wheels in double-spoke design, black-painted exterior mirrors and in the case of the Coupe, an optionally available boot lid spoiler.

Inside, the sports seats feature M detailing along with an M Sport steering wheel, stainless steel pedals and an M aluminium driver’s footrest, as well as Dakota leather seats with blue contrast stitching.

Toyota has officially announced that they are planning to export the Toyota Avensis (locally known in Malaysia as the LEXUS CT 200h), which is built at Toyota’s UK factory to its “home” market in Japan!

It seems that Japanese customers are starting to get bored with their own products, as demand for European styling and engineering heightens, influencing Toyota to introduce the Avensis into its domestic market.

According to Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd Managing Director, Katsunori Kojima, “We are very proud that the Avensis has been selected for export to Japan. This is yet another vote of confidence for the factory and the high quality of our products.”

Since Avensis was first introduced in 1997, more than 1.8 million Avensis has been built at the Burnaston plant for sales in the UK, Europe and other markets worldwide.

The factory plans to manufacture 750 units per month for the Japanese domestic market and will begin shipping it out in July 2011.

Toyota’s UK factory has succeeded in recovering much faster than anticipated to its normal production levels prior to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last March 2011. The additional exports to Japan will reinforce the factory’s performance and its position as one of Toyota’s most efficient and advanced factories.

Furthermore, the third-generation Avensis in Toyota is expected to strengthen the performance of the UK factory, which already delivers the model internationally to 47 countries.

Normally when the thought of flamboyant chrome-plated exotic sports cars come to mind, they tend to be associated with Middle-Eastern sheiks, oil tycoons, rappers or the ultra-wealthy inhabitants of South Florida. But, in this case, the car in question – an all-chrome R8 Spyder donated by Audi – was auctioned off recently to raise money for charity!

The White Tie and Tiara Ball, held at the home of Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, is an annual event that raises money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF). The mirror-like chrome finish (which could potentially be as distracting to other motorists as the glitzy Las Vegas billboards at night) applied to the 312kmh drop-top was intended “to attract the highest possible bids.” It is also loaded with the 525bhp V-10 engine, manual transmission and Quattro all-wheel-drive.

“Sir Elton John’s fundraising ball really is a golden ticket event that is as glamorous as it is hugely effective in fundraising terms,” said Jeremy Hicks, Director of Audi UK. “We are delighted, and enormously proud, to support it for a ninth year with the donation of what is arguably our most fittingly glamorous model.”

The EJAF was founded in 1993 and is one of the 10 largest AIDS grant-making organizations in the world. It raises money for programs that provide medication, nutrition, shelter and support as well as information and education about AIDS in 15 countries.

This happened to be the the 13th year for the auction fund-raiser that was held on 23rd June 2011, which was and still is aimed at raising copious amounts of money, especially for those in need of the foundation.

Mazda Motor has announce a recall of about 494,500 Mazda3 compact cars to fix an electronic glitch that keeps the windshield wipers from working properly. Gladly, no accidents have been reported so far from this defect.

The affected cars are amongst the Mazda3 batch that were built between January 2008 and July 2010. From the total, 157,700 units have been subjected to the North American recall; 91,600 units in Europe; 84,000 units in China and about 20,000 units in Japan.

If you happen to own a Mazda3 built within this period, perhaps you might want to bring the car to your nearest authorized service centre to have it checked out.

Hyundai has officially sold five million vehicles in Europe since the first Hyundai Pony was imported in 1977.

To date, the Korean car maker recorded their first million-sales in 1996, second million in 2001 and third million in 2005. Hyundai’s sales momentum in Europe has increased steadily since then, culminating more recently with a significant rise in demand for the car’s brand that saw the last one million sales achieved in just three years.

The latest milestone was achieved with the sale of an i30, which was launched in 2007 and subsequently sold over 320,000 units across it’s European dealer network. With the introduction of the i30 in Europe, the company’s progress moved into higher gear.

The i30 is a truly European car, built at Hyundai’s first manufacturing facility in Europe. The i30 was soon followed by new models such as the i10 and i20, including other increasingly diverse range of models that includes the ix20 compact MPV and ix35 SUV, all of which have been equipped with European focused styling, power trains and packaging.

Hyundai will continue to invest heavily to meet European car buyer expectations. They are planning to further their sales growth for the remainder of 2011 and look to achieve their next five-millionth sale with a shorter future time-frame.

Nothing is made simple in a car and that includes the car’s horn.

Perhaps we didn’t realize that this deceptively simple device actually takes into consideration customer horn-blowing behaviour and its impact on the horn itself including the usage amount, tonality, even physics.

In North America for example, the car’s horn is used for friendlier communication and to make sure their car is locked before they walk away as well as a locator to find their vehicle in a crowded parking lot. Therefore, Ford is taking into consideration by providing North American customers with trumpet horns that produce a softer sound which makes it more melodic. Most vehicles have dual trumpet horns, tuned to frequencies that are not unpleasant, but are just slightly discordant.

Trumpet horns aren’t suitable for all countries because for some like India, the usage of a car horn gets far heavier because drivers use them to help navigate through congested traffic and on less developed roads. Therefore Ford developed a disc horn, which has a longer life-span in a vehicle where the honking is part of their daily routine.

There are also drivers who prefer both. In China for example, customers drive with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the horn. They use their horn extensively but  in the meantime, they want it to sound melodic. Hence, Ford come out an electronic trumpet. Moreover, China has one of the most extreme set of conditions, including cold temperatures and roads at an altitude of 15,000-feet .

Ford has taken into account the physical environment of where the car is being driven because altitude and temperatures does affect the way sound travels.

Do take a look at the video below for a short car horn quiz and see why engineers think designing a car’s horn is more complicated than you think!

A true driver’s car can seem to know exactly what the driver’s thinking, but that’s really not the case in the non-fiction, non-movie life. According to the latest reports though, Ferrari is blurring the lines, developing a series of systems that will actually read a driver’s mind and body to bring the relationship between man and machine that much closer.

The technology is outlined in a series of Europe-wide and global patent applications. The documents show how Ferrari expects a range of sensors to provide the cars of the future with data on the driver, allowing it to adjust its set-up accordingly.

Ferrari describes a network of technologies that will aim to read a driver’s respiration, perspiration, blink rate, heart rate, blood pressure, cranial activity and other parameters, adjusting the stability and traction control systems of the vehicle to suit.

The in-car technology being developed is in response to one simple conclusion – the fact that drivers think their abilities are beyond what they actually are. Now we’re thinking if robots are ever to rise up and take over the world, this technology would be the frontline of that army, no?