Peugeot-Citroën’s newly-independent DS brand will reveal a stunning new concept called E-Tense at next week’s Geneva Auto Show.

The E-Tense takes the form of a low-slung, carbon fiber-bodied coupe that stretches 185 inches long, 81 inches wide, and just 50 inches tall. Its front end wears a muscular evolution of the design language found on current members of the DS lineup like the 3, the 4, and the 5. Beyond that, it features pronounced wheel arches, a rakish A-pillar, and a gently-sloping roofline accented by a chromed fin. Finally, the rear end gets 3D-looking LED tail lamps that emphasize its width and a wide air diffuser.

DS points out the cabin took 800 hours to design, test, and build, but photos haven’t been published yet. We’re simply told it’s fitted with a tulip-shaped steering wheel, steel trim on the dashboard, a 640-watt sound system, and a watch manufactured by BRM Chronographes. The watch can be worn by the driver of placed on the dashboard.

Power is provided by an all-electric drivetrain that uses electricity stored in a lithium-ion battery pack to generate 402 horsepower and 380 lb-ft. of torque. The 4,000-pound E-Tense hits 62 mph from a stop in 4.5 seconds, and it goes on to a top speed that’s electronically limited to 155 mph. The battery pack is mounted below the passenger compartment to lower the center of gravity, and it stores enough electricity to power the coupe for about 200 miles.

DS hasn’t revealed what the future holds for the E-Tense concept.

BMW has rejected the idea of building an M2 convertible to complement the new M2 hardtop coupe.

M2 chief engineer Frank Isenberg suggests the company already offers a sporty compact convertible — the 2-Series Convertible in M235i guise. It boasts a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six with 322 horsepower, on par with the 1-Series M.

“We’ve got such a nice M235i Convertible,” Isenberg told CarAdvice. “And convertibles are not for racetracks, they’re for cruising.”

The company wants the M2 to remain as ‘purist’ as the 1-Series M coupe, which now fetches more in the used market than it did in showrooms five years ago. The strategy contrasts with the larger end of the M lineup, which includes drop-top versions of the M4 and M6 despite a significant weight penalty.

The M2 is approximately the same weight as the E46-generation M3, first introduced in 2000. Later generations were heavier, and even the latest carbon-clad F80 M3 is around 100 pounds heavier than the E46.

Though a soft-top has been rejected, BMW has not ruled out M2 special editions to follow in the future.

Buick’s revised 2017 Encore small SUV has been spotted completely undisguised at a photo shoot in Southern California. The updated Encore will made its official introduction at the New York auto show.

As expected, the new Encore closely mirrors Opel’s latest Mokka X utility vehicle. For the Encore that means an updated grille, revised headlights with LED accents and a faux skid plate. The back of the Encore largely carries over, but new taillights and a tweaked lower bumper are included in the revision.

The interior of the 2017 Encore will also be new with a more modern-looking center stack. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will also be included for the new model year.

Powertrain offerings should continue on unchanged. Base versions of the Encore will ship standard with a 1.4L turbocharged four-cylinder tuned to deliver 138 horsepower. An up-rated version of the turbo four with 153 horsepower will also be available.

Look for the 2017 Buick Encore to go on-sale following its March unveiling in the Big Apple.

Volkswagen’s ongoing negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department, the EPA and the state of California regarding its massive diesel scandal are “progressing,” the automaker’s lawyer told a federal judge on Thursday.

Robert Giuffra, a lawyer representing VW, made the proclamation earlier today in federal court in front of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. “The discussions are progressing,” he said, according to Automotive News.

VW is scrambling to come to a settlement over its use of cheating devices in nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles sold here in the United States. The embedded software allowed those diesels to pass EPA testing but spewed as much as 40 times the legal level of greenhouse gases during regular driving.

Breyer urged VW to have a solution to the problem by March 24, when the German automaker is scheduled to meet with the EPA about a fix for the affected vehicles. “It seems to me six months is long enough to determine whether or not there is an engineering process that can be utilized by Volkswagen and will be acceptable to the U.S. government,” Breyer said.

VW has already presented one possible fix to regulators, but that idea was shot down.

The Justice Department sued VW over the emissions scandal last month. The automaker could be facing fines totaling as much as $46 billion. The company is also open to lawsuits from disgruntled owners and dealers.

Hyundai is slowly publishing details about the Ioniq, a new hatchback aimed right at the Toyota Prius.

The Ioniq will be offered as a hybrid, as a plug-in hybrid, and as a pure EV. Scheduled to bow next week in Geneva, the Euro-spec hybrid is powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 105 horsepower and a small electric motor programmed to provide 44 horsepower. As we reported last month, the two power sources send 141 horsepower and 195 lb-ft. of torque to the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

The plug-in hybrid model uses the same four-banger and six-speed dual-clutch transmission setup but it receives a 61-horsepower motor and a bigger lithium-ion-polymer battery pack. It can consequently drive on electricity alone for 31 miles before the four-banger rumbles to life.

Finally, the electric Ioniq is fitted with an electric motor that uses electricity stored in a 28-kWh lithium-ion-polymer battery pack to zap the front wheels with 120 horsepower and 218 lb-ft. of instant torque via a single-speed reducer transmission. It has a driving range of over 155 miles, and a top speed of 103 mph. The battery-powered model stands out from its gasoline-electric siblings with a drivetrain-specific front fascia, but all three versions have a 0.24 drag coefficient.

We’ll learn more about the Hyundai Ioniq next week during the Geneva Auto Show. The U.S.-spec model will be shown at the New York show that will open its doors late next month, and it will land in showrooms in time for the 2017 model year.

The six-year old Alfa Romeo Giulietta is getting a minor facelift in time for the Geneva show.

Eagle-eyed observers will notice the hatchback receives honeycomb inserts in the grille and in the lower bumper, new alloy wheel designs, and a handful of additional paint colors. Out back, the “Giulietta” emblem on the hatch is written in bigger letters, a styling cue borrowed from the upcoming 2017 Giulia sedan.

Inside, the revisions are equally minor and largely limited to the latest generation of Fiat-Chrysler’s touch screen-based UConnect infotainment system, and a handful of redesigned trim pieces on the dashboard. An Alfa Performance menu lets the driver use his or her smartphone to time runs on the track, access vital information about what’s going on under the hood, and get real-time driving tips.

Mechanically, the Golf-sized Giulietta is offered with an array of gasoline- and diesel-burning four-cylinder engines ranging from a 1.4-liter turbo four that makes 120 horsepower to a 1.4-liter MultiAir mill rated at 170 ponies. The facelifted model gains a 1.6-liter JTDm turbodiesel that sends 120 horsepower to the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Positioned at the top of the Giulietta lineup, the Veloce model uses an evolution of the 4C’s 1.7-liter turbo four that produces 240 horsepower and 221 lb-ft. of torque, though an overboost function bumps torque up to 250 lb-ft. for short bursts of time. It hits 62 mph from a stop in six seconds flat and keeps on accelerating until it reaches 151 mph. The Veloce model gets discreet red accents on both ends, blacked-out headlights, new emblems on the fenders, 17-inch alloys, and a big air diffuser out back.

The 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulietta will land in European showrooms in the next few months. In Italy, it carries a base price of €22,200, a sum that converts to about $25,000.

A security researcher has warned of vulnerabilities in Nissan’s mobile app for Leaf owners.

Troy Hunt claims the company has failed to address security issues with the NissanConnect EV app, allowing hackers to remotely access and control some features by simply knowing a vehicle’s VIN.

The deficiency does not appear to have safety implications, though it could allow attackers to adjust the climate-control system, fiddle with the charging system or access private data such as driving history.

“Whilst it’s not specifically personally identifiable information such as the individual’s address, by the time you have a VIN which you know belongs to a LEAF registered within a specific country, it may not take too much effort to fill that gap,” Hunt wrote in a blog post.

The researcher claims to have notified Nissan months before going public with details of the exploit. If accurate, the report suggests Nissan failed to implement even basic security provisions to protect against such attacks.

“It’s not that they have done authorization [on the app] badly, they just haven’t done it at all, which is bizarre,” Hunt told BBC.

Nissan is aware of the vulnerability and is currently “working on a permanent and robust solution.” The company reaffirms that the issue has “no effect whatsoever on the vehicle’s operation or safety.”

Ride-sharing company Uber has announced that it will soon commence autonomous vehicle testing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Not to be outdone by the likes of Google and possibly even Apple, Uber has inked a new deal to develop its own self-driving vehicle technology on the grounds of a former locomotive roundhouse in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood. Uber will only be a temporary tenant of the mixed use area known as Almono, however, as the site will eventually be developed for offices and homes.

“They’re going to put some pavement down, but they will remove it. It actually really fits well with the master plan because once they move out it’s about time for the residents and the homes that we’re going to build to develop about three to five years down the road. So, the timing is perfect, it’s going to create a couple of jobs in the neighborhood and it’s actually a worldwide name, which really attracts people to the Hazelwood residency,” Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O’Connor told CBS Pittsburgh.

Exact details were not announced, but Uber’s plans for the site include a test track. Some automakers haven targeted a 2020 lunch date for their autonomous tech, but Uber has not committed to a timeline as of yet.

A year-long study has determined that ammonium nitrate propellant, along with two other factors, is to blame for Takata’s massive airbag recall.

The Independent Testing Coalition, which is comprised of representatives from Toyota, Honda, Fiat Chrysler, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Subaru, announced this week that ammonium nitrate propellant is the main culprit of Takata’s faulty airbags. The 10-member group, all of whom are Takata customers, also blamed defective inflator assemblies that exposed the ammonium nitrate to moisture and temperature swings, causing the chemical to combust violently.

Takata announced in a prepared statement that its finding support those of the ITC.

“We fully cooperated with ITC to support their analysis, and we will continue to work closely with them, NHTSA and our customers to take aggressive actions that advance vehicle safety,” a Takata spokesman said in a statement, according to Automotive News.

Although the ITC didn’t look into the matter, investigators are researching if ammonium nitrate is safe to use as an airbag propellant at all, independent of the moisture and temperature issues. The NHTSA has given Takata until 2019 to prove that the chemical is safe for use in airbags; if the company can’t comply, Takata could be forced to recall every airbag it has ever produced with ammonium nitrate.

If that happens, it would cause another round of headaches for vehicle owners. Takata’s replacement airbags use ammonium nitrates, so a second round of recalls to replace the replacement airbags would be required.