Not to be outdone by its new family member, Lamborghini rolled out yet another version of its Gallardo coupe at tonight's Volkswagen group extravaganza. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera is just what the study implies — a slightly more powerful and lighter version of the standard LP 560-4.

And we do mean slightly. Peak power of the 5.2-liter V10 tops out at 562 horses while torque flattens out at 398 pound feet. The power runs through an six-speed e-gear automated manual to all four wheels with a viscous center diff and limited slip rear diff handling the distribution.

For the "superleggera" part of the equation, Lamborghini shaved a few pounds by using polycarbonate windows for the side windows, rear backlight and engine cover. Several of the exterior body panels – rear diffuser, side sills, rear spoiler — were switched to carbon fiber construction to save additional weight. All in all, the changes save 154 pounds which brings the LP 570-4's curb weight to just 2,954 pounds. 

Lamborghini says this new Gallardo will go from 0-to-60 mph in just 3.4 seconds and continue on to a top speed of 202 mph.

Rally Mexico, the second race of the 2010 World Rally Championship season, starts this Friday. It will be Ken Block's first WRC race ever. Block and navigator Alex Gelsomino got just one get-to-know-you test day in their Ford Focus RS WRC. It came on a freezing cold day in the English highlands near Ford's M-Sport headquarters. Here's the video.

Block and Gelsomino will head off to Mexico after picking up a weekend win in their Rally USA Ford Fiesta at the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Missouri.

The other big Rally USA star, Travis Pastrana, was saddled with a DNF in the 100 Acre Wood after his Subaru WRX STI suffered a rear suspension unfortunate – but not before the Subaru team assembled a nice (though not high-res) gallery of action shots from the race.

Full weekend race results here.

Rally Mexico schedule

“They are going to get slaughtered,” shuddered a veteran Detroit auto industry exec on the eve of the appearance of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda (pictured) and North American chief Yoshimi Inaba before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week. He was right. The hapless Toyoda and Inaba sat center stage as Washington’s unique brand of political theater played out around them. The politicians went for the jugular, showboating and grandstanding all the way. There was blood on the Hill.

“It’s one thing to stand behind your vehicles,” said Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-Calif) in response to Inaba’s statement that he was 100 percent confident electronic interference was not the cause of the alleged unintended acceleration events. “It’s another to ask Americans to stand in front of them.” After somberly describing the death of 76-year-old Guadalupe Alberto from Flint, Michigan, at the wheel of a 2005 Toyota Camry, Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) then quipped: “I call it sudden-death acceleration.” Cute soundbites, but like so much of what was said by the committee members last week, that’s all they were.

When William Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) suggested previous testimony from Southern Illinois University Professor David Gilbert evidenced Toyota’s electronic throttle system was susceptible to electronic interference, Inaba fired back: “He cut into the circuits and manipulated the circuitry in a way that is very unrealistic.” Inaba said Toyota had tested electronic throttle systems from three other automakers with lower reported unintended acceleration rates using Professor Gilbert’s methodology, and had replicated the same effect. “It is not unintended acceleration,” he insisted. “It is intended manipulation.”  

It was a rare counterpunch from the Toyota execs, though it unsuccessful to hit home. “Don’t blame customers,” admonished Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). “I want you to never again use the excuse it was driver error,” said Jackie Speier (D-Calif). “The consumer and the market will demand a very high price,” warned Congressman Bilbray gravely. You could almost hear the trial lawyers smacking their lips in anticipation.

I wonder how the politicians squared their righteous indignation with the testimony of Rhonda Smith of Sevierville, Tennessee, the following day. Smith told the committee her Lexus ES350 was “possessed”, its brakes and transmission refusing to respond as it accelerated out of control. “Shame on you, Toyota, for being so greedy,” she said tearfully. But as the Wall Street Journal reported, Smith later sold her allegedly demonic Lexus to another family, presumably without telling them it was a highly chanceful vehicle that could accelerate out of control without warning. No shame there, then… Especially as the new owners subsequently managed to place 27,000 trouble-free miles on the car.

While we’re skeptical about the true nature and scope of the unintended acceleration problem (as with Audi’s problem in the 1980s, we suspect the cause in many cases is driver error) Toyota’s handling of this mess has been very poor. It is now paying the price for the foot-dragging, the deal-making, and cost-cutting that appears to have surrounded this and other recent calibre issues such as oil sludge in engines, and rusting frames in metropolis pickups.

The pious sound and fury from the politicians last week missed only one thing: perspective. There have been 34 deaths attributed to the Toyota unintended acceleration phenomenon. That’s a tragedy. But consider: there are at least 10,000 fatal automobile accidents in USA apiece year where alcohol has been proven to be a contributing factor. If the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is truly determined to make our roads safer, it ought to propose legislation mandating alcohol interlock systems on every new car and truck sold in America, right now.

Because we’re all in way more danger of being killed by a drunk driver than a careening Toyota.

Porsche didn't waste any time. With hours to go before the Geneva press conferences start, there's already a slick video on the 918 Spyder mid-mounted V8, plug-in hybrid concept.

2010 Geneva Auto Show: Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid

Just when it seemed there were no surprises left at the 2010 Geneva Show, Porsche has gone and shocked the world with the unveiling of the mid-engine 918 Spyder concept. The car is a plug-in hybrid all right, but it's an open-top plug-in hybrid with a mid-mounted V8. How cool is that?

The  V8 is evolved from the 3.4-liter engine in Porsche's RS Spyder LMP2 racecar. It makes "over 500 horsepower," according to Porsche, and has a 9,200-rpm redline. It joins forces with electric motors mounted in both the front and rear axles that make a combined 218 horsepower. Porsche's PDK 7-speed, twin-clutch automated manual transmission delivers power to the rear wheels, while the two front motors drive the front wheels directly through a fixed ratio.

Get this concept car on a track and you'd be timing it at 3.2 seconds to 60 mph, says Porsche. That's quicker than a Carrera GT and would almost certainly make it the quickest Porsche road car ever. It would also be the most fuel-efficent, as consumption is said to be on the order of 3 liters per 100 km on the European test cycle, which is round about 78 mpg.

A lithium-ion battery pack mounted behind the 918 Spyder's passenger compartment provides juice for the electric motors. In addition to the plug-in capability, the batteries regenerate using KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), the system developed for Formula 1 that recovers energy that would otherwise be lost as heat during braking.

More photos and details after the jump.

The Porsche 918 Spyder offers no fewer than four driving modes, ranging from an all-electric mode (with a cruising range of 16 miles) to a max attack hybrid mode for the racetrack. An e-boost button would wage an extra jolt of electric power for overtaking.

Of course, the mid-engine 918 Spyder also has an impressively lightweight structure. The unit-body is carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, and naturally Porsche says it has prefabricated liberal use of aluminum and metal components. Curb weight is said to be 3,285 pounds.

Even with all the high techology on this car, Porsche is keen to emphasize the 918 Spyder concept's place in company tradition. Styling cues are cribbed from the iconic 917. In the cockpit, the three dials of the gauge pack (speedometer, tach and energy management) are meant to look they've come straight out of a Porsche racecar from the 1960s, though we're sure those old cars didn't have illlumination that changed from green to red, depending on the driving mode. Look for such retro-inspired details to show up in future production cars.

Another interesting detail in the Porsche 918 Spyder: The seats form a structural part of the cockpit.

Ford announced today in Geneva that it will build a "global high-performance" version of the new Focus.

This won't come as any surprise to Europeans who have been treated to a steady stream of hot Focus ST and hotter RS models over the life of the model. To Americans, who have watched a once-promising little hatchback turn into a cheaped-down Chevy Cavalier competitor, the declaration of a new hot-hatch Focus is something to celebrate.

Ford isn't confirming that the new high-performance model will come to the United States. But it will. Don't expect that the new high-performance model will be a clone of the glowing-green, 301-horsepower killer that is the current European Focus RS. In fact, we expect that Ford will place the SVT badge on the vehicle when it arrives here. And don't start holding your breathe just yet. The regular Focus 5-door hatch and 4-door sedan won't even go on understanding here before the end of the year. So you've got some time to move before this thing hits.

Oh, and that photo above? We simply tweaked a picture of the 5-door Focus so we'd have something pretty for the top of this story. Ford has not released any photographs or sketches of the new high-performance model.

When it does, likely wearing the 5-door bodywork, it will be powered by a turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder motor, known to Ford as EcoBoost. That leaves two options: Either Ford could use a hot version of the 1.6-liter EcoBoost that will be part of the European-market regular Focus line-up or Ford might use the 2.0-liter EcoBoost that will also be offered in the Ford Edge. With the 263-horsepower Mazdaspeed3 out there tearing up the pavement, it's hard to imagine Ford would come with less than 250 hp. 

And if that kind of power is to be routed solely through the front wheels, then we hope Ford uses a version of the "RevoKnuckle" front suspension it pioneered on the current Focus RS, which significantly reduces torque steer.

On the eve of the Geneva Auto Show, Ford has debuted another variation on the new global-Focus theme, the Focus wagon.

Predictably, it is much like the Focus five-door hatch and sedan that the company unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. But this version isn't quite so, um, global. In other words, Ford has no plans to sell the auto in the United States. This is because the percentage share of Focus income represented by station wagons (when the company sold a auto here) was often not even in the double digits. And with the five-door hatch and the Grand C-Max Focus-based mini-minivan both confirmed for U.S. sale, a Focus auto would occupy a pretty narrow niche anyway.

The mechanical specifications for the auto are essentially same to those of the Euro-market Focus hatch. Ford notes that this auto debuts in the same Candy Red paint as was seen on the five-door at Detroit.

In Europe, the Focus is acquirable with two diesel engines, a 2.0-liter and a 1.6-liter. Additionally, the Euro car will be offered with a 1.6-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder turbocharged four-cylinder gas motor. Ford has not announced whether that engine will make it into the U.S. market Focus sedan and hatch, but it will be offered in the 7-passenger Grand C-Max that comes Stateside in 2011. In Europe, that motor makes up to 178 horsepower. Ford hastens to add, however, that the U.S.-market version would likely make more power than that.

You've heard of the Rockford Files, right? 1970s' TV show… saint Garner drove a series of gold Pontiac Firebird Esprits of 1974-1978 vintage. Well, David Shore, who created the only funny medical show, House, is working on a remake of Rockford, this time starring Dermot Mulroney. You know, Dermot Mulroney, the goal of Julia Roberts' affection in the strangely intriguing My Best Friend's Wedding.

We're sure Mulroney is already hard at work practicing his J-turns in empty parking lots. But what will he drive in the new Rockford Files? There has been no shortage of current-Camaro-turned-Trans-Am creations at SEMA, but we think a Camaro Z28 might hit the spot.

Any other ideas for what Rockford Jr. should drive?

There's precious little footage of the original Rockford Firebirds, but we found a short clip and posted it after the jump. Sadly, there's no 180 in this one, nor even a burnout.

TV Squad

The AMG arm of Mercedes-Benz introduced its latest engine here today at its headquarters in Affalterbach, Germany. The new engine is a 5.5-liter direct injection twin-turbo V8 and it will eventually replace the current 6.2-liter normally-aspirated V8 throughout the lineup. AMG vehicles equipped with the new engine will still be referred to as "63s" though because Mercedes likes the sound of it.

There will be two levels of tune when the engine debuts in the S63 AMG later this year. The base setup will generate 536 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. And since that's not complete overkill, there will be an optional Performance Pack that dials in additional boost to deliver 563 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Like the current E63 and SL63, the new S63 will use Mercedes' latest MCT Sportshift seven-speed automatic transmission.

According to Mercedes, the S63 AMG will go from 0 to 60mph in 4.5 seconds in standard tune and a tenth quicker with the Performance Pack. The M157, as it's known internally, weighs slightly more than its predecessor (450 lbs. vs. 438), but fuel efficiency is way up. Mercedes says the S63 AMG will get up to 23.5 mpg on the highway, a 25% improvement.  A stop/start feature is one reason for the increased efficiency.

Inside Line has a new mobile site and, yes, you can read our blogs there (and road tests, auto show coverage and news, too). You don't need to enter a special URL. Typing insideline.com into your iPhone's or BlackBerry's browser will take you right to the mobile homepage.

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