Alpine Ere G180 Eq Old School Car Audio on 2040-parts.com

European Car of The Year 2012 to be announced at Geneva

The European Car of the Year 2012 will be revealed at next month's Geneva motor show, drawn from a shortlist of seven cars. In the first stage of voting judges selected their seven favorite cars from a list of 35 candidates that were put on sale in Europe in 2011, with January seeing the declaration of the seven finalists. The second stage of voting will find the European Car of the Year 2012, with the winning car announced on 5 March at the Geneva motor show.

Volvo V40 Cross Country (2012) first official pictures

Volvo is beefing up the V40 hatch with the new V40 Cross Country - a rough 'n' ready soft-roader to be shown at the 2012 Paris motor show. Ring any bells? Cast your mind back to 1997 and the release of the V70 Cross Country, to which the V40 Cross Country owes its existence. Volvo V40 Cross Country: 'all-road' performance The V40 Cross Country comes in front- or all-wheel drive formats, topped by the 2.5-litre T5 that’ll churn out 250bhp and pass 0-60mph in six seconds. A 40mm ride height increase is likely to limit on-road performance, but should come in handy should you need to traverse any troublesome countryside on the school run.

Fiat Punto Sporting arrives with revised Punto range

The Fiat Punto Sporting (pictured) ash been added to the Punto range The Fiat Punto is a bit of an anonymous Fiat that should probably sell better than it does, but with most of Fiat’s marketing efforts centered on the 500, the Punto just gets overlooked. So Fiat are trying to inject a bit more interest in the Punto by making some teaks to the range, deleting a couple of trim levels and adding a new one – the Punto Sporting. The Fiat Punto Sporting is Fiat’s take on ‘Sporty’ for the Punto with a set of side skirts, a sports suspension setup, ‘Tarmac’ finish on the dash, 16″ alloys, chrome exhaust tip and a gloss black roof.