Arctic Cat, El Tigre, Kawasaki 440 Quad Plug Engine Cases Free Air. 1974-1975 on 2040-parts.com

Ford's forgotten T-Drive program

Digital boss Andy Stoy recently passed along this little piece of nearly forgotten Ford history from the early 1990s. We know that our girl Murilee Martin dug this up way back in 2010, but the wonder of the Ford T-Drive system is worth revisiting. According to Drivingenthusiast.com, “T-drive is a system consisting of a transversally located inline engine, a transmission and associated packaging.” The transmission is mounted to the side of the engine, or the back, depending on how you look at things.

Porsche Panamera plug-in hybrid set for 2014

Porsche AG will build a plug-in hybrid version of the Panamera sedan starting in 2014, sources familiar with the situation said last week. The plug-in hybrid likely will come to the United States, but the timing is unclear, a source said. Volkswagen AG, which owns 49.9 percent of Porsche's sports car business, will roll out plug-in hybrid versions of the Audi Q7 crossover and European-sold VW Passat starting in 2014 or 2015, a source said.

Peugeot 508 (2011): first official pictures of France's Mondeo

This is the new Peugeot 508, said to be the first Peugeot to introduce the new design look spun from the SR1 concept first seen back in January 2010. The 508 replaces two cars – the 407 and 607 – and will be available in both saloon and estate bodystyles when it goes on sale at the start of 2011. It's very similar to the 5 concept car shown earlier in 2010, but somehow lacks the stylistic class of recent Peugeots such as the RCZ.