There was a motor show last week. In Frankfurt. You may have noticed. We did. Oh, we certainly did.
The huge number of you who visited autocar.co.uk last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday would certainly have noticed, because we had unrivalled live coverage of the Frankfurt motor show press days, with live updates, all the news, plenty of videos and hundreds of photos.
So for this edition of Autocar’s week in review, we’re going to run through the new car reveals that caused the most interest on this site.
Most-read news story of the week: Frankfurt motor show report, updates and gallery
Unsurprisingly, our main Frankfurt motor show page, which featured live updates from our team prowling the show halls, was our most-read story. We’ve left all the live updates there and added in Steve Cropley’s expert report that sums up everything that went on in Frankfurt.
Oh, and there are photos. Lots of photos. Seriously, if it happened at the Frankfurt motor show, it’ll likely be covered in our report.
Most-read Frankfurt car launches
In a show full of bold hypercars and futuristic electric concepts, it’s good to know that an estate car can still be popular. Mind you, the Audi RS4 Avant is no ordinary estate car: it packs 444bhp, 443lb ft of torque and, with an optional package, can reach 174mph.
And, yes, it has a big boot.
Ford brought a new version of its most American car to Germany – albeit now with updates to hone it further for the European market.
Don’t worry, it’s still very much a Mustang: it’s available with a 5.0-litre V8 that produces 444bhp. And even the 2.3-litre Ecoboost option gets the Electronic Line Lock system, which allows you to perform burnouts to warm your rear tyres. Or just plain shred them, should you prefer.
1000bhp Mercedes-AMG Project One hypercar shown
Conceived to create a direct link between Mercedes’ Formula 1 team and its road cars, the Project One (still a working title) features a heavily reworked version of the firm’s F1 hybrid engine. It also has around 1000bhp, will do 0-124mph in 6.0sec and can top 218mph.
Just 275 will be sold, at a cost of around £2.08 million each. Sadly, they’re all sold, so you can stop buying those lottery tickets now.
Renault Mégane RS hot hatch launched
Hypercars are all well and good, but when you want to admire a performance car you can actually afford, you can’t beat a hot hatch.
The Renault Mégane Renault Sport’s 1.8-litre engine ‘only’ produces 276bhp, but the French firm reckons any power deficit to its rivals will be easily compensated by the handling benefits of its 4Control four-wheel-steering system.
Honda Urban EV to make production in 2019
Honda’s retro-styled all-electric Urban EV city car won plenty of admirers for its looks – which led to plenty of excitement (not least among several Autocar staffers) when the marque confirmed the model will go into production in 2019.
Video of the week: 12 stars from the Frankfurt motor show
The Frankfurt motor show is vast: it can take hours, and an awful lot of walking, to get round and see even a handful of the key cars. Save yourself the effort: editor-at-large Matt Prior and our videographer Mitch McCabe donned their walking shoes for you to check out 12 keys cars – edited down into a hugely manageable eight minutes or so.
There are hundreds more videos on Autocar's YouTube channel, including close-up looks at the Mercedes-AMG Project One and the Bentley Continental GT from Frankfurt.
And finally… Volvo XC40 full styling leaks
This one isn’t actually from Frankfurt, but enough of you showed interest in leaked video images of the new Volvo XC40 for it to warrant inclusion here.
We also wanted to include Volvo’s classy Twitter response to images of its shiny new SUV appearing ahead of the 21 September unveil (when we’ll have full coverage on autocar.co.uk, naturally).
Ok. We know you know. #XC40
— Volvo Cars (@volvocarsglobal) September 15, 2017
Yes, Volvo, we know. And we also know class when we see it.
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