Sacrebleu! The 7 Hottest Debuts of the 2014 Paris Auto Show

Ah, Paris, a city of romance, fashion, and at-times pretentious locals who just love to scoff at oafish Americans like us. Besides hosting 4 annual fashion weeks—what, Frenchies, one isn’t good enough?—and sporting more cafés than citizens, Paris also happens to host an auto show every other year.

The city’s average of 0.5 auto shows annually (it rotates with the Frankfurt show in Germany) strikes us as odd given the vehicular hotness that tends to show up in the City of Light, and this year’s edition was no different. The awesomeness was spread among both concept and production cars; these are the 6 cars we think the dozens of other debuts can’t hold a baguette to:

2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale A Spider

The “A” in the new Ferrari 458 Speciale A’s name doesn’t stand for “awesome,” but it could. The “A” actually is for Aperta, the Italian word for “open.” Based, of course, on the 458 Italia, this version of the 458 Spider gets the same special upgrades as the transcendent Speciale coupe. READ MORE ››

Honda Civic Type R Concept

A second concept version (here’s the first) of Honda’s long-awaited, 4th-generation Civic Type R will debut at the Paris auto show later this week before it makes it into European Honda showrooms sometime next year. READ MORE ››

Infiniti Q80 Inspiration Concept

We hope you had smelling salts ready when you opened this story; Infiniti claims that “seeing this vast and imposing car for the first time can suck the air from your lungs. Like a blow to the stomach.” (We’ll let you catch your breath.) Although that statement paints a somewhat comical image—imagine hundreds of auto executives and journalists simultaneously doubling over in pain while gasping for air on the floor of the 2014 Paris auto show—there’s no denying that the Q80 Inspiration concept is a slightly unexpected yet comprehensive and modern design from a company that just spent a couple of years simply trying to get people to understand the rearrangement of its nomenclature. READ MORE ››

2015 Jaguar XE

Let’s start with the really good news that, well before driving it, we can confidently state that the new Jaguar XE definitely isn’t an X-type.  READ MORE ››

Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4 Hybrid Concept

Behold the Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4 hybrid, unveiled the day before the 2014 Paris auto show. Despite Lamborghini’s demure insistence that the Asterion is no more than a “Plug-in Hybrid technology demonstrator,” the reserved-for-an-exotic styling, production-friendly body contours, and hybrid powertrain perhaps hint at a different future. READ MORE ››

2015 Mercedes-AMG GT / GTS

The Porsche 911 is no stranger to attacks—and now a fresh one has been whipped up in Affalterbach by Mercedes’ high-performance arm, AMG. True sports cars wearing the 3-pointed star are rare; the last 2 times such cars appeared, the company aimed sky-high with the McLaren SLR and the just-departed SLS AMG. Both were priced to appeal to folks with incomes matching the GDPs of small countries. This time around, however. Mercedes-AMG is in attack mode and the new GT guns straight for the semi-attainable Porsche 911 and competitors such as the Audi R8 and uplevel versions of the Jaguar F-type. READ MORE ››

2015 Mercedes-AMG C63 Sedan

Without a doubt, the latest C63—rechristened Mercedes-AMG C63 rather than Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG—is a wonderful beast. We haven’t driven the hottest C-class Benz yet, but with the base model putting down 469 horsepower and the extra-zooty C63 S throwing down a 503-hp gauntlet, there’s no way it’s not going to be great, massive gobs of fun, right? In our mind, there’s just one way to make it better, and that’s to give it a bigger ass. Meet the C63 Estate. We want. READ MORE ››

Sacrebleu! The 7 Hottest Debuts of the 2014 Paris Auto Show