96 Yamaha V Max 600 Speedodrive & Cable D6 on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar XFR – the Cat’s out of the bag

The XFR is Jaguar’s answer to the barn-storming saloons from Mercedes, BMW and Audi, and if looks and spec (and the experience of driving the non-blown XF) are anything to go by, the new big Cat should get the cream. The XFR gets the new version of Jaguar’s AJV8 engine, which is a 5.0 litre supercharged lump, producing a whopping 510bhp, with the usual limited top speed of 155mph, and a 0-60 of around 4.5 seconds. The New Jaguar XFR surfaces ahead of Detroit Visually, the XFR gets the ‘Aggressive’ look, with big, chrome-trimmed air inlets at the sides (a Jaguar theme?

Mercedes E300 BlueTEC Hybrid gets 65.7mpg & costs £39,645

Mercedes-Benz has revealed that the Mercedes E300 BlueTEC Hybrid has official fuel consumption of 65.7mpg and will cost from £39,645. There’s no denying that the Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC hybrid is a very clever car, and that it ‘Games’ the daft company car BIK rates to perfection. It’s entire reason to be is to drive down official fuel consumption figures to garner the most benefit possible from company car taxation, and in that it succeeds very well.

Kia styling chief Schreyer is fluent in Koreapean

The way Peter Schreyer sees it, there is one key difference between European and Korean automakers: Europeans design from the heart, Koreans from the head. "In a European company, everybody is a car driver, a car enthusiast," says the Germany-born design chief of Kia Motors Corp. "Everybody from the CEO to the little designer to people on the production line, they want to build cars they want to drive themselves." Koreans can be more market-oriented: "They look at the big picture, which markets to explore or conquer.