Euro NCAP annually raises the criteria for a five-star rating and the organisation has not only announced the 2012 rules, but also released its first test results for this year. We are talkign about the Jeep Compass and the new Honda Civic - while the latter achieved a five-star rating, the first disappointed, only managing to achieve two starts, one of the lowest scores among new cars on the market today.

The new Honda Civic hatchback for the European market has been tested by Euro NCAP and we have good news: there are no horror stories, it’s decently safe and got the maximum five-star rating.

Since the Civic is a good looking toad of a car, we’d want to enjoy it by ourselves, with no kids, pedestrians or significant others concerning us. This is good because it scored a very impressive 94 percent rating for adult occupant protection, and only 83% in child protection.

Alpina has decided to boost the B5 Bi-Turbo, which is basically a tuned 550i F10 5-Series tuned to the max. The Alpina version was already a powerful beast, delivering 500 hp instead of the stock 407, but now the 4.4-liter V8 is doing what any tuned engine is supposed to: challenge the next more powerful version of the car, in this case the M5.

Thus, Alpina has tuned the B5 to produce 540 ps (533 hp) and and 730 Nm (538 lb-ft) of torque.

The Lamboghini Gallardo Superleggera is already an exclusive version of the Italian supercar, but the visual differences to the other models are pretty limited, which is why certain users turn to aftermaket develoeprs in an effort to make their cars stand out in the crowd.

The Superleggera in the adjcent photos comes from the US, where it was tuned by EVS Motors, with the project being a one-off for a special customer.

AC Schnitzer has big plans for next month’s Geneva Motor Show, with the tuning specialist set to give us two new developments at the Swiss event. The first will be a project based on the 2012 F10M BMW M5, while the second will use the BMW F30 3-Series as a starting point.