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Volt, Leaf win top safety rating in crash test

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf electric cars won the highest safety ratings in crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, putting them in the top 57 percent of models tested so far this year. About 80 of 140 vehicles tested among 2011-2012 models have received the Institute's "top safety pick," the group's award for state-of-the-art crash protection that exceeds federal safety rules, Institute spokesman Russ Rader said. The Volt and Leaf received a "good" rating -- the highest of four rankings -- on each of four crash tests, said the Institute, which is funded by auto insurers including State Farm, All-State and Geico.

McLaren MP4-12C: The build begins +video

First McLaren MP4-12C being built You could be forgiven for thinking that McLaren had already started building their Ferrari 458 challenging car – the McLaren MP4-12C. After all, it’s been turning up all over the place for at least a year, and we even had a good view of the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood as it passed us en-route to strut its stuff up the Goodwood Hillclimb last year. But the cars we’ve seen so far – even the Volcano Orange MP4-12C from Goodwood – were prototypes; McLaren’s running test beds for tweaking and refining the MP4-12C before the first cars reach customers this year.

Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid debuts at Goodwood

The Jaguar Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid research car with a 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine and 69kW electric motor on show at Goodwood. It’s been a bit of a Jaguar 24hrs with the news of prices for the new Xf Sportbrake and the debut of the new 3.0L Supercharged engine in the XJ for 2013. Now we get the public debut of the Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today featuring the 2.0 litre Ecoboost petrol engine from the Evoque and a 69kW (93bhp) electric motor.