1973 Volvo 1800ES fetches $92,400 in Bonhams auction – a classic Volvo record

The most expensive Volvo P1800 in the world. With Volvo now on a sensible track of producing good-looking, premium Swedish cars, we have wondered if historic Volvos will start to climb in value as modern Volvos become more appealing and more upmarket. And it seems they might be.

2014 BMW X3 Facelift and more efficient engines

The 2014 BMW X3 (pictured) gets a facelift and new engines The current version of the BMW X3 SUV has been with us for more than three years, so BMW are giving it a bit of a mid-cycle facelift and more frugal engines to keep the X3 on top of its – very successful – game. Engines on offer for the 2014 X3 include the 2.0 litre diesel in the sDrive18d which offers 148bhp and 56.8mpg and the 187bhp in the X3 xDrive20d which returns 52.3mpg, the xDrive30d – which gets the 3.0 litre diesel unit – with 254bhp and 47.9mpg and the X3 xDrive35 which has an impressive 309bhp but still manages official economy of 47.1mpg. When it comes to the cosmetic facelift bits, BMW hasn’t really pushed the boat out, but the new X3 does get a new headlight design which is sleeker, new front and rear bumpers and a new surround for the kidney grill, which all contrive to make the new X3 look even more like a baby X5.

Paolo Pininfarina elected Chairman at Pininfarina SpA

Paolo Pininfarina has been unanimously elected to become Chairman of the Board of Directors at Pininfarina S.p.A., one of the roles previously occupied by his late brother Andrea Pininfarina. The Board of Directors agreed to assign authority over the Group's design operations and Pininfarina Extra to Paolo Pininfarina and also elected to hand over the Group's communications to his sister Lorenza Pininfarina, the Provisional Deputy Chairperson. There has been much speculation about the company's future following the untimely death of CEO Andrea Pininfarina in a traffic accident last week.