#ParisAutoShow

Despite its relatively faraway late-September date, organizers behind the Paris Motor Show say the show cannot go on in its current form.

The “seriousness of the unprecedented health crisis” facing both the world and the show means the event, slated to kick off at the city’s Porte de Versailles on September 29th will pare back several elements. However, depending on how the coronavirus pandemic plays out, some satellite events could still go ahead.

When details of the 2019 Mercedes-AMG A35 hatchback prematurely hit the web last month, it looked like the model was ready to give the Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3 a hard time. However, the 306 horsepower and 295 foot-pounds of torque generated by its turbo 2.0-liter wouldn’t be enough to outright murder them on the open road. Fortunately, the leak included unconfirmed rumors that the A45 definitely could.

Following its debut at this Paris Motor Show this week, we learned that everything we already knew about the A35 turned out to be true, though the A45 remains draped in relative mystery. AMG lifted the veil just a bit, teasing out a few details on the upcoming model — emphasizing how terrible it will make the old A45 seem by comparison.

Introduced over the summer as a way of showcasing Porsche’s digitized rendering capabilities, the 911 Speedster Concept appeared in the flesh at the Paris Auto Show this week. It won’t remain a concept for much longer. With the 991 Series on its way out, Porsche has decided to make the Speedster its swan song, putting it into limited production early next year.

Styled to evoke nostalgia for the hunch-backed 356, the new Speedster is said to be limited to just 1,948 examples — a reference to the original model’s birth year.

An electric Mini? There’s a weak Austin Powers joke in there somewhere, maybe, but that movie (alarmingly) came out 19 years ago.

After teasing the possibility earlier this year, BMW CEO Harald Krüger confirmed an all-electric Mini will arrive in 2019, Bloomberg reports. Krüger claims a Mini EV, as well as an electric version of the compact X3 crossover, is needed to keep up with the company’s German rivals.

It looks like BMW isn’t interested in slotting a slightly larger crossover above the X1 that resembles both it and the larger X3.

The automaker’s Concept X2, unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, is a departure from the brand’s existing utility lineup, with styling designed to appeal to a sportier buying demographic.

Toyota first showed off its funky C-HR small crossover at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, but it waited until Paris to reveal the model’s powertrain lineup.

Unlike its Nissan Juke competitor, don’t expect a high-performance C-HR when the model bows in 2017. At least, not just yet.

Honda has provided a glimpse of the U.S.-bound Civic Type R at the Paris Auto Show, albeit in concept form (though the automaker prefers the near-production term “prototype”).

This Type R — designed in Japan, built in the UK, and destined (at last) for America — uses the Civic Hatchback as a canvas, then adds every visual performance indicator the automaker could get its hands on. Reportedly, it will have the power to back up its looks.

Remaining relatively faithful to the Sway Concept from last year’s Geneva Motor Show, Nissan unveiled the fifth-generation Micra at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, more than six years after the fourth-generation Micra arrived.

Directed at the European market, which Nissan says is the world’s largest market for hatchbacks, the Micra is not at all intended for sale in the United States. But what about Canada, where Nissan has racked up 27,000 Micra sales in 29 months and the Micra is the brand’s second-best-selling passenger car?

“We don’t have current plans to announce for Micra in Canada for now,” Nissan Canada’s director of corporate communications, Didier Marsaud, told TTAC in an email today. “But Micra remains an important product in our portfolio in the Canadian market.”

So he’s saying there’s a chance.

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled an all-electric SUV concept at the Paris Auto Show, strongly hinting at what we can expect from its recently announced EQ sub-brand.

The Generation EQ concept offers impressive range and up to 400 horsepower, which the automaker needs to compete with the likes of Tesla and rival BMW’s “i” sub-brand.

Looking something like an unborn child peering with sightless eyes from inside an amniotic sack, the Volkswagen I.D. concept vehicle has been revealed ahead of the Paris Auto Show.

The description is apt, as Volkswagen sees the I.D. as an embryo, heralding a long-range electric vehicle slated for production within four years.

Does anyone remember the days when international auto shows had a three month lead time for appearing in printed buff books? I’m not sure what’s worse: waiting for a few grainy shots and 50 word blurbs, or having everything revealed beforehand in a high-stakes game of PR one-upmanship and slow reveals.

Reporters of Reuters, roaming the floors of the doom-dominated Paris Auto Show, finally found a feel-good trend: Green supercars, or make that guilt-free kickass swank, targeted at cash-positive crisis-sated, climate-conscious consumers .

The Paris Auto Show is about to kick off tomorrow, and some of the product set to debut has me cursing myself for not maxing out my Visa on a flight and a room at the lovely hotel that’s walking distance from the Porte de Versailles, where the pretty girl with crooked teeth sits patiently at the front desk. And how could I forget the wizened gran-mere hovering over the table at breakfast, replenishing your plate with cheeses and baked goods that one could never hope to find at Publix?

Alas, I am not part of the A-List club that gets driven from the Georges V to the Expo Hall in an S-Class, and so rather than sucking down a Gauloises or getting a glimpse of Carla Bruni (I was blessed with such a privilege in 2010) I’m stuck in North America, having to use my brain rather than just repeating back what my PR minders told me over a glass of Cotes-de-Rhone.

This might be the first live shot of the Jaguar F-Type that isn’t taken on a blurry camera phone.