Mercedes Marco Polo (2014): first pics of Merc's camper van

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 10 July 2014 10:51 Mercedes has unveiled its answer to the VW California camper van: the new V-class-derived Marco Polo bijou home on wheels. As the exploratory name suggests, the Mercedes Marco Polo is for adventurous types who want to take their home with them on outdoor trips and camping holidays. Not sure we'd take one from Venice to the Far East though, like its namesake...

Infiniti introduces personal concierge service with new cars

The luxury-car market is tough a game when the economy is going good. When it's bad, automakers have to think up all sorts of incentives to get buyers into showrooms. Case in point: the personal concierge service from Infiniti.

Porsche buyers put the brakes on stop-start technology

By Chris Chilton Motor Industry 23 June 2008 18:56 Direct injection and a clever new PDK dual-clutch gearbox have cemented the new 911’s reputation as the greenest performance car around, but Porsche engineers are being hampered from making the iconic sports car even cleaner by the public’s reluctance to accept further green technology Engineers at the launch of the facelifted 911 told CAR that fitting a BMW-style start-stop system could chop a further 10g/km from the Carrera’s 225g/km CO2 rating but that performance car buyers weren’t keen on having such overtly planet-conscious tech on their cars. Start-stop works by cutting the engine when the car’s stationary in traffic, and restarting automatically when you touch the pedals to move off again. Every manual transmission-equipped BMW 1-series comes with the technology, excepting the truly high performance versions.