On a recent BMW 3-series Convertible press launch in Arizona, WINDING ROAD editor Reilly Brennan was able to free up some new dirt on the 1-series, confirming that the U.S. marketplace will indeed receive both a two-door coupe and convertible. Better still, those models are slated to appear sometime during 2008.

Brenda Priddy, the High Priestess of Spy Shooting, caught these first-ever shots of the coupe, caught cold weather testing in the Arctic.

According to officials, no four-cylinder model is currently in the cards for American buyers, so expect a version of the 3.0-liter inline-six that’s on duty in the super quick 130i, among other BMW vehicles. Priddy reports that the stonking 3.0-liter turbocharged six found in the 335i could form the basis of a 1-series M version, though we don’t know if they’d consider calling it the M1, in deference to BMW’s 1970’s supercar.

Regardless of whether a hotted-up M variant makes it here, we’re very excited to see North America fill up with a new generation premium small Europeans.

Spy shooters have captured the next Porsche 911 looking remarkably undisguised.

Late last week, the shooters at KGP Photography hipped us to an unidentified Ford prototype believed to be a development mule for the automaker’s upcoming Fairlane people mover. At that time, given the car’s obvious Freestyle roots, we speculated that the vehicle in question could also simply be a tester for the updated look that Ford’s slow-selling crossover is supposed to cop in 2008.

Since that time, KGP has chimed in with additional photographic support for their Fairlane case, which we’re posting here for your perusal. The prototype shown above obviously looks different, and would appear to require less-extensive sheetmetal updates than the mule we first showed you. Based upon this new evidence, it seems likely that the original mule was indeed an early Fairlane mock-up.

At any rate, this Freestyle clearly features an updated three-bar grille, headlamps, and reworked bumper cap, and the back end will receive new mostly-clear taillights, not unlike those slated for the 2008 Ford Five Hundred.

There are additional rumors and a new rendering for what is expected to become the least-expensive Alfa Romeo upon introduction, the 2008 Junior.

Already green-lighted for production, the diminutive hatch will take on BMW’s 1-Series and Mini Cooper range, along with the upcoming Fiat 500.

Saturn’s new Vue hasn’t hit showrooms yet, and the company is already hard at work on its next Red Line performance variant.

Caught testing in Detroit with minimal disguise by KGP Photography, the new Red Line has a much more aggressive front end, with a particularly pugnacious bumper fascia incorporating large air intakes. Interestingly, the way the fog lamps are integrated into the bumper is reminiscent of the Saturn Sky’s front-end treatment.

See what happens when you fail to follow directions, Ford employees?

WINDING ROAD has secured exclusive new shots of Ford’s forthcoming Focus Coupe, including the first known shots of the car’s interior.

While still based on the current chassis, the aging Focus will get a new set of duds, including this slinkier two-door guise which harkens back to the Blue Oval’s defunct Escort ZX2 model.

The mule our shooter caught of the forthcoming coupe was riding on nondescript 15-inch seven-spoke alloys wrapped in Hankook Optimo tires, and its rear camouflage appears to be secreting a decklid wing. While the front-end cladding does a good job hiding the car's true shape, it's clear that the car will receive a derivation of Ford's corporate horizontal bar grille, and there's an interesting hood bulge on this model, though we're not sure we'd read into its existence too much.
The interior shot doesn’t show much, as the center stack has been shrouded from our man’s prying eyes (and lens), but a new three-spoke steering wheel is clearly evident, one that appears to house both cruise control switches and redundant audio buttons....

Jaguar’s mid-range S-Type never quite turned into the sales blockbuster the English automaker hoped for, but the firm maintains hope for their crucial next-generation model, which Autocar reports will be called the XF.

No, this isn’t yet another prototype of the 2008 Porsche Cayenne—not if spy shooter extraordinaire Hans Lehmann has anything to say about it. The muscled mule is actually the early forerunner to the Lamborghini SUV depicted in the artist’s rendering above.

According to Lehmann and his Hidden Image sources, Porsche is developing the Italian 4x4 because they’ve proven themselves with their work on the Audi Q7 and the Volkswagen Touareg before it.

It is believed that the Rambo Lambo redux (see the LM002 for pace notes) will be powered by the V-10 mill currently seeing use in the Audi S6 and S8. A smaller 4.5-liter V-8 could see production, and there is the very real possibility that this Lamborghini will be the first raging bull with a diesel engine under the hood— think Audi’s 5.9-liter V-12 TDI.

Our friends at KGP Photography have cracked off some excellent shots of what they believe is an early BMW X6 mule. Derived from the new X5, the new crossover will apparently weigh style over utility, with a more aggressively sloped roofline and steep windshield.

The spy shooters originally thought they could be looking at another planned X5-based vehicle, the V5, but given the fact that it doesn’t appear to be very efficient in terms of packaging (The V5 is said to be pitched at Mercedes-Benz’s R-Class), they’ve decided otherwise.