Surrendering to the endless bombardment of pre-Paris reveals, for the next few days leading up to the 2008 Paris Auto Show, RideLust will be exclusively covering all the leaks and teaser shots of the major impending Paris reveals. To kick things off, we’re starting with the 2009 Fiat 500 Abarth Essesse, Fiat’s sporty revision of the compact Fiat 500 Abarth that launched earlier this year.

Full gallery after the jump

2009 Car of the Year Nominee: Dodge Challenger

In January of next year the North American Car and Truck of the Year winners will be announced during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  The process that leads to that decision began last week with the release of the first round of 26 finalists.  Not suprisingly, vehicles from the crossover segment of the industry dominate this year’s list.

Like nearly every single other car we’ve posted on this week, the Chevy Orlando concept is yet another pre-Paris auto show leak presumably intended to heighten the buzz of anticipation. Sharing the same platform as the Chevy Cruze, the Chevy Orlando is intended to be a fresh, new take on the people mover [for further reference, see: Ford Flex]. We’re not completely sure what the deal with all the neon lighting is unless Chevy is hoping to market the Orlando to the acid tripping soccer mom, but we will admit the interior designs on the glass roof are pretty cool, even if they aren’t practical.

View gallery after the jump

Next month, at the Paris Motor Show, Chevy will finally release their seven-seat family concept car, the Orlando. Unfortunately for Chevy, some snapshots made it to the internet pre-launch. They look like pictures from backstage during a promotional shoot. Either way, here they are.

The Orlando, based on the Chevy Cruze platform, is supposed to be this sporty MPV in a small package. It has a GM turbo diesel putting out 150 horsepower, five doors, seating for seven and home theater style setup in the back, which makes it a modern alternative to the big bulky gas eaters that large families need today. I quite like it, but for more that just those reasons.

Check out the pics after the jump:

Pininfarina Sinesti Concept Car, Geneva 2008

Beleaguered with financial woes and the unfortunate death of their CEO, specialty automobile designer Pininfarina could use a jolt, and that’s exactly what they plan to give themselves. According to Autopia, Pininfarina is moving forward with plans to produce an all-electric car, which they will unveil later this week at the Paris auto show.

Featuring design cues that suggest heavy Chevrolet Avalanche/Honda Ridegline influences, Vee Dub has released preview photos of their new pick-up truck, which isn’t set to officially debut until later this week at the 62nd IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Germany. Scheduled to begin production in Europe in the fall of 2009, VW says their first pick-up truck was not engineered for the casual pick-up enthusiast, but rather tailor-made specifically to accommodate coastal search-and-rescue crews.

View gallery after the jump

Toyota A-Bat Concept

Introduced in 2007 at the Detroit auto show, the Toyota A-Bat pick-up truck/sedan synergy is now creeping slowly, hesitantly towards production. Although nothing has been green-lighted, Toyota executives have confirmed for Auto News that they’ve begun accepting supplier bids for the A-Bat’s construction components. So does this mean the freaky little A-Bat is destined for U.S. roadways? Not necessarily.

Peugeot had it’s 5th design contest recently. The winner of the competition will be announced on the Peugeot stand at the Paris Motor Show on October 2nd 2008. Peugeot CEO, Jean-hilippe Collin, will award the “la Griffe” trophy and $15,000 dollars to the winner.

A full-scale model of the winning design will be produced as prototype and will be presented to the public at the Shanghai Motor Show in the spring of 2009.

Mitsubishi iMiEV Micro-Electric Concept

Nearly identical to the Mitsubishi iMiEV Concept introduced in 2007 at the Tokyo Auto Show, the production iMiEV has been spotted road testing in Japan and is rumored to be prepping for a U.S. introduction in 2009. Ambitiously, Mitsubishi publicly expects the iMiEV Micro-Electric car to average 124 miles off a single charge, and feature a top speed of 112 mph. Although that seems almost impossibly ambitious [especially in light of the slightly disappointing production Chevy Volt reveal], thanks to their partnership with battery manufacturer GS Yuasa Corporation, Mitsubishi is confident their technology is ready for mass production.

Mercedes-Benz has announced plans the 2-door wagon conceptFASCINATION at the Paris auto show next month. Fortunately, Mercedes has no intention of ever pushing the fugly wagon into production, instead wisely opting to keep it as part of their traditional “design study” program. Ordinarily I’d dismiss the conceptFAIL as merely another piece of couture engineering that missed the mark, but Mercedes-Benz’s delusional public promotion of the concept wagon has me frightened.

According to Autopia, Daimler head Dr. Dieter Zetsche said of the conceptFASCINATION, “This design study continues the long tradition of exciting coupés from Mercedes-Benz in impressive style. With its emotionally appealing lines, ConceptFASCINATION offers a completely new interpretation of the coupé. Its aesthetic, dynamic looks and painstakingly crafted details ensure that this study meets the highest design standards.”