Only a few hours ago, we shared a teaser video of the upcoming 2014 Maserati Ghibli in which the Italian carmaker promised to drop the first images of the car later this week, ahead of its world premiere at the Auto China 2013 in Shanghai on April 20.

Apparently, they didn’t check for…a leak, as the Czech team over at Autoforum (in case you didn’t notice the red logo) are laying claims to the first official shots of the production Ghibli. While we can’t be 100 percent certain at this time, our initial impression is that they’re the real deal.

We’ve added photos of the new Quattroporte after the jump so you can compare the styling of the two cars for yourself, but in our eyes, the Ghibli looks very much like a shorter and more compact in general, version of the larger Maserati with an even lower and more angry looking front end.

The dashboard also looks similar but has more contemporary and aggressive details and trim, which was to be expected since the Ghibli aims at a comparatively younger crowd and will be cross-shopped by buyers of the more powerful versions of the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, as well as the Audi A7 Sportback, BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe and the Mercedes-Benz CLS.

We don’t have any official information of the new Ghibli in our hands yet, but from what we know, it should measure somewhere around 4.8 to 4.9 meters long and be offered with turbocharged V6 and V8 gasoline engines.

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We might not have a lot of official information on the brand-new, and heavily panned by many readers for its odd-looks, 2014 Jeep Cherokee, but we can now further enlighten you on its exterior styling thanks to a raft of pictures that were released online today, and which you can check out, and, of course, comment on, right after the break.

We’ve yet to hear this from Chrysler Group officials, but a recent report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated that Jeep based the new Cherokee on a design borrowed from parent company Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand:

“The 2014 Jeep Cherokee, which makes its debut Wednesday at the New York Auto Show, is based on a design first developed for Fiat’s Alfa Romeo—a sharing intended to spare Chrysler hundreds of millions of dollars in engineering costs and shorten the time it takes to get new vehicles to market,” said the report from WSJ.

However, the article doesn’t elaborate on whether it means the actual design of the SUV (as in styling of the body etc.), or if it refers to the underpinnings of the new Cherokee, which is believed to be based on a modified version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta-sourced chassis of the Dodge Dart.

We’ll have full details on the 2014 Cherokee tomorrow from its New York Auto Show world premiere.

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Finally, the time has come for Mercedes-Benz to peel several layers of heavy camouflage off its 2014 C-Class sedan prototypes, and in doing so, to show us that the next generation of its compact executive car will draw heavily on the looks of the new S-Class.

The similarities in the design between the two differently sized models become more evident once you focus on the shape of the arched glasshouse and rear end.

The styling move might be intentional, as for the first time in its history, the C-Class will have some inside competition from the new CLA, which may be based on the smaller wheelbase platform of the A-Class hatch, but is actually 1.5 inches or 38mm longer than the current C-Class sedan.

Besides its S-Class-inspired looks, the new car, codenamed W205, will use the presence of the CLA to grow in size and approach closer to the E-Class, while also gaining more technological and premium goods.

Under the hood, you’ll find a new range of turbocharged four-cylinder and V6 petrol units, and a selection of inline-four diesels, all featuring automatic stop-start and brake energy recuperation systems to improve fuel economy and emissions. Later on, Mercedes will enhance the lineup with frugal hybrids in both regular and plug-in flavors, as well as a range-topping AMG version, which we recently caught lapping the Nürburgring.

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The 2014 Corvette Stingray is so new that it hasn’t even reached dealerships, and it won’t be doing so until the end of summer, yet we have the first recorded accident, not at GM test facility but on a public road.

To explain, this image, which was discovered by Motorauthority on Digital Corvettes, was posted by forum member named “gpetry“, who claims to have received it from a friend in Arizona, just last week, with the following description:

“Driving through some mountains in Arizona about 30 minutes ago. In some tight switchbacks when we passed this ’14 Vette. Cop had just arrived. Car is in worse shape than looks. Hit guardrail on left and bounced back to rocks.”

As it turns out, we have seen this car before – it’s the blue colored base Corvette Stingray with the Michigan license plate number filmed along with two more examples driven by GM engineers in Arizona last month. You can see the videos and pictures from the meeting here.

Photo via Digital Corvettes

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What GM’s Holden unit declares as the “most technologically-advanced car ever created in Australia”, and we’ll add to that, perhaps one of the better-looking to come out from the Land Down Under, the new Commodore VF, was finally unveiled today during an exclusive event in the city of Melbourne.

Ironically, it may also be the last Australian-designed and engineered rear-wheel drive, Commodore as Holden itself has announced that it will replace the car with a new model in 2017.

The good news is that Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mike Devereux confirmed the Commodore’s replacement would keep the same name with production continuing to take place in Australia; the bad news is that, according to Drive, he said it would be based on a new global design from GM, meaning it will switch to a front-wheel drive platform.

Nevertheless, for the next four years, the last true-blue Australian Commodore brings a fresh design both inside and out along with new luxury appointments.

From a North American perspective, the Commodore VF is important as it spearheads a new export campaign in the form of the Chevrolet SS Sports Sedan that will be officially unveiled in the USA next week on February 16. As you may have already noticed from our own rendering of the SS, the cosmetic changes over the VF Commodore are expected to be subtle.

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For almost a year now, Opel and its sister company from Britain, Vauxhall, have been testing camouflaged prototypes of the Insignia series, which in sedan form, is sold as the Buick Regal in North America.

In a first, the European model scooped here affords us a clear look at the restyled Insignia’s new headlamp fixtures that will work together with a sharper front grille, new front and rear bumpers, and a different set of tail lamps featuring a chrome stripe from side to side, just like on the new Cascada convertible.

We know from previous spy shots that cosmetic changes will also take place inside with a newly designed center console housing a much larger screen for the infotainment and navigation systems, flanked by taller air vents and new buttons on the top.

The facelifted Insignia will benefit from a reworked chassis to improve ride quality, while it will also gain Opel’s new and more fuel-efficient 1.6-liter turbocharged diesel engines that will replace the 1.7-liter and certain 2.0-liter units, along with a new 1.6-liter turbocharged petrol available in a number of different outputs.

We’ve heard that the Insignia series (sedan, liftback, station wagon and the OPC / VXR models), could make their world premiere at the Geneva Salon in March. If this doesn’t happen, then expect an introduction in the summer with a debut to follow in the fall at the Frankfurt motor show.

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The 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit won’t open for the public until Saturday, January 19, (January 16-17 is the industry preview, and January 18, the charity preview) but if you’ve been following our coverage of event, you should know most things you need to know. 

While no one was surprised by Detroit’s big three choosing their hometown to launch their new production and concept cars, this year’s show also had major world premieres from Asian and European automakers, too.

Wrapping up our NAIAS report, we thought we’d make a quick review of this year’s most notable offerings.

First things first: the seventh-generation Corvette, by far the most eagerly awaited presentation, undoubtedly impresses with its technology (aluminum frame, carbon fiber bodywork parts, cylinder deactivation) and performance. Bringing back the Stingray moniker is either proof of GM’s confidence in the new Vette or a clever marketing trick.

Next up is another GM product, the Cadillac ELR. That’s an even tougher one to judge. It sure looks delicious – but then again, with the Converj concept as a starting point, Caddy’s designers would have to be on mind-addling drugs to get it wrong. It’s rumored, but not yet confirmed, $ 60k asking price will put it up against some pretty stiff competition, so it had better be much more than just a sleek Chevy Volt if it wants to succeed.

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