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Weekly Recap: Ferrari, Ford and Porsche power up for Geneva

Monday was Groundhog Day. Tuesday, apparently, was Sports Car Day. The Ferrari 488 GTB, the Ford Focus RS and the Porsche Cayman GT4 all debuted within hours of each other ahead of their rollouts at the Geneva Motor Show. Three sporty machines, three vastly different approaches – and a lot of implications for enthusiasts. That's a day worth repeating. It also illustrates the opportunities automakers see in the performance market, which is expected to grow in the coming years. Ford estimates the segment has expanded 14 percent in Europe and surged 70 percent in North America since 2009. The Detroit Auto Show was evidence of this, and performance cars of every stripe debuted, including the Acura NSX, Ford GT, Alfa Romeo 4C Spider and several others. This isn't a fad. Performance cars aren't going away. The question is why? Stricter CAFE standards are looming in the United States, as are tighter emissions regulations in Europe. And no one expects gas prices to remain low in America. None of this matters for sports cars, and automakers are increasingly using them to elevate their images. That's why Dodge rolled out two 707-horsepower Hellcats last year. It's why Ford has decided to resurrect the GT for road and track. It's why in the depths of bankruptcy, General Motors continued work on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, not to mention the Z06. "Great brands are made one car at a time," Ford of Europe president Jim Farley said at the reveal of the Focus RS. Still, companies make those cars for different reasons. View 5 Photos Mainstream brands like Ford and Dodge want to build cars that get people talking, excite their bases and drive more potential customers into the showroom. They probably don't buy a Focus RS or a Hellcat, but suddenly the regular Focus hatch looks a bit hotter, and that V6 Charger seems to be just a touch more muscular. The halo of performance is alive and well in the eyes of automakers and their customers. "It's one of the most effective catalysts for ingenuity and innovation," said Joe Bakaj, vice president of product development for Ford of Europe. That also leads to a trickle-down effect. Some of the technologies inevitably make their way to other products. It's hard to think the new all-wheel-drive system in the Focus RS that distributes torque front to rear and side to side won't be used in other vehicles. It's different for Ferrari and Porsche.

J.D. Power: Vehicle dependability at all-time high, Lexus and Porsche lead

Each year, J.D. Power and Associates surveys original owners of three-year-old vehicles to find out what kinds of problems they have had experienced over the last 12 months, and then it uses this data to create its annual Vehicle Dependability Study. This means that the models in the 2013 study are 2010 model year vehicles, and J.D. Power rates each make as well as the top individual models based on how many problems were experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100).
Debunking the idea that carryover models are more dependable than new or updated models, the 2013 study found that the average carryover model experienced 133 PP100, while all-new or redesigned vehicles for the 2010 model year had 116 PP100; vehicles that received minor changes fared the best with just 111 PP100. The overall average for all makes was 126 PP100, which is the lowest figure since the findings were first issued in 1989.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS looks wicked, this way comes

Those who didn't think Porsche went extreme enough with the latest 911 GT3 likely won't be disappointed when the more focused GT3 RS arrives. And as you can see from these latest spy shots, it looks like it's speeding right around the corner. Tipped to debut at the Geneva Motor Show this coming March, the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS is shaping up to be an enthusiast's dream - and with the prospect of a GT2 in doubt, could be the most hardcore Elfen in the range. Instead of the 3.8-liter flat-six in the current GT3, the new RS will pick up where the previous limited-edition GT3 RS 4.0 left off, with four naturally aspirated liters of unadulterated boxer power channeling a good 520 horses to the rear wheels. That will be a significant increase over the existing 475-hp GT3 and will match the 911 Turbo for output (if not the 560-hp Turbo S) and without any turbo lag to slow down the action, either. Whether it will keep the GT3's dual-clutch gearbox and four-wheel steering system, or ditch one or both for a more analog approach, remains to be seen, but we're holding out hope. Either way, the modifications to the bodywork ought to make the GT3 RS stand out even further and stay glued to the race track it will call home. Notice the deep front splitter scooping up snowflakes like a shovel, a massive rear wing (which may or may not be the final production version), the Turbo-spec rear end with air intakes ahead of the rear wheels, and a set of awesome-looking gills over the front wheels – all of which you can scope out in the gallery full of spy shots above.