Right, who is getting sick of this?

Once upon a time a carmaker would tease you with a car under a cover, a silhouette, or something that could actually be identified as an automotive part.

Lamborghini has for the last few years taken the mickey out of the ‘teaser’ taster, with close-up abstract images of a bit of a bumper or maybe an exhaust pipe or two.

Here’s the latest, coceivably for the next Murcielago. It isn’t even the car, but a com-gen. There will be five more released in stages before the actual car is revealed at the Paris Autosalon. I’ll let you guess what it is, because I’m not wasting my time.

In China, it’s the Year of the Tiger. In BMW-land, it’s the year of the M3. So in celebration of this happy coincidence, BMW has ticked the yes box for a limited run of the appropriately but unimaginatively titled M3 Tiger edition.

Twenty-five years of the M3 will be commemorated by a run of 250 ‘Fire Orange’ M3’s, with a metallic orange and black paint job, black 19-inch rims and badging, while the inside inverts the colours with black leather lashings and tiger heads embroidered into the seats.

Jump for joy, then…

Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), the production tuning arm of Ford Australia, will soon release details of a brand new V8 engine based on a US block.

The 5.0-liter V8 Coyote block from the new Mustang is the basis for the V8, which will be supercharged using some imported and Aussie bits.

The engine will have two states of tune, a base GT with about 315kw, similar to what the current Boss V8 pumps out in that spec, and a GT-P top spec with about 340kW at the rear rubber.

This will hopefully head the brand in the path of the legendary GT-HO, and give GM and the Holdens something to talk about… Stay tuned.

Some naughty Stuttgart spy has leaked brochure pictures of the next Merc Coupe Like Sedan (CLS) well before its official reveal.

The next CLS four-seat exec-express follows Benz’s new design direction of an aggressive nose and standout side creases, but a bulbous and organic behind. In the CLS’s case, the new rear taillamps look more Mazda6 than Merc (but at least it does away with the replicated Aussie Ford AU Falcon ones!)

Mercedes-Benz Passion reports the new CLS will house a 3.5-liter direct-injected V6, a 430hp twin-turbo 4.6-liter V8, and the new 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 in the AMG version.

When something is marketed to the ‘Gen Y’ audience, these thirty-something year-old bones start to rattle with indignation. As one of the Gen X breed, there is an immediate dislike for the pandering of the advertising salesman to that spoon-in-mouth tribe of grown children (just as they surely label us a snobby bunch of brat-pack oldies).

So when the spin doctors start up with the Kia Soul, there’s an immediate and predisposed hesitation to even be seen in the thing.

The Korean carmaker says it’s not just pandering to the Gen Ys, but appearances contradict this statement.

In the vein of the Nissan Cube and Toyota’s Scion youth brand, the Soul is a boxy cube shaped five-door hatch designed and engineered with European and American influence to make a standout vehicle for both the company and on the road.

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There is one way to make a small fortune out of a large one - motorsport. However, for the manufacturers, entering motorsport can offer the ultimate performance brand cache. Even for a brand like Saab.

Before it was in the wars and without an owner, and before the more recent and rather lacklustre crop of cars, Saab was into rally in a big way.

Rumour has it that the Swedes are now in talks with the FIA and WRC to get back into the game in 2012 as the ultimate launch for its newest small car, which will probably be called either the 9-1 or the 9-2.

This comes just weeks after the announcement that BMW/MINI will enter its new Countryman in the 2012 WRC.

The small car entry originally developed with former owners General Motors on the Opel Corsa platform; a deal that is now defunct. Saab may look to the Germans or the Chinese to underpin the car now, and should be basing it on a hardtop version of the concept 9-X Air BioHybrid (below).

Bentley has paid homage to its highest paying clientele with two special-edition Continental cars: the Flying Spur Arabia and Flying Spur Speed Arabia.

A run of 50 cars built especially for the Saudi tastes will undoubtedly be sold and quickly (well, by luxo sedan standards). Bentley claims the Middle East market represents 10 percent of Bentley sales globally, doubling from five percent in the last five years, showing no GFC interference. Bentley now has nine dealerships in the region.

The drivetrains remain the same, with most modifications of a glitter-pack variety: 14-spoke diamond alloys on the standardand 10-spoke silver 20’s on the Speed, dual cooling/heating seats, polished wooden flip tables and vanity mirrors for the second row, thick carpet mats and chrome bling inside and out. Even on the fuel cap.

Finishing touches are an exterior front fender badge, tread plate and ashtray lid badge – all bearing the Arabia signature - and a sneaky ‘valet’ spare key which allows the plebians to park the car without accessing the lockable storage areas of the car.

No word on pricing, but options still include carbon-ceramic brakes on the Speed, Adaptive Cruise Control, rear-view camera, iPod interface and phone handsets all round.

Can you imagine this as your daily drive?

Apparently, you can do it - in England. The Reynard Racing Inverter is now available in the UK as a road legal production car.

Like the Caterhams and Lotii, which are homologated for road use with the addition of windscreens higher than four inches and doors that open in a semi-standard fashion, the Inverter takes a note from the Arial Atom and the Radical with a 1000cc Honda Fireblade or 1340cc Suzuki Hayabusa inline-four cylinder engine, propelling just 981 pounds of metal. The driver will make up about a quarter of the kerb weight!

Even better will be a Ford Duratorq two-liter, which is on the horizon. It costs $24,000 for the chassis and body, or fully built for £35,000 (about US$58,000).

One thing’s for sure - your hair will be coiffed in ’80s Wall Street best with this commuter.

Last year at Frankfurt, Fiat again rode on the coat tails of its exotic stablemate Ferrari to produce a one-off show car, the Fiat Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari.

The 1.4-liter 16-valve turbocharged four of the diminutive 500 was bulked up to 180 horses and matched to a clutchless transmission with steering wheel paddles. It also received a specially reworked suspension and brake package to handle the ‘power’. Rims and stripes echoed the top-shelf F430 racer, the Scuderia, and the interior is stripped with carbon fibre seats. Like all 500s, it was cute, in a half-pint, copy-cat sort of way.

News now is that a limited run of the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari will hit the right-hand drive market (not in South Africa or Oz, rather in England, where mini cars are hailed as heroes).

And the price for your own mini Fezza Fiat? Just £29,600. That’s USD$48,000!