Mercury 95hp Water Jacket Cover 1011-2484 on 2040-parts.com

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

Kia Track’ster is a bonkers 4wd 250bhp concept

The barking mad Kia Tracks'ter The Kia Trackster Concept has been revealed as a three-door, 250bhp, 4WD track version of the Soul. The Kia Soul may not be thye first car you’d think of turning in to a hot hatch, but that hasn’t stopped the Kia Track’ster arriving as a concept at the Chicago Motor Show today. Based on the Soul, the Tracks’ter (those Kia apostrophes again) gets 4WD, loses its back seats to what Kia call an “Integrated Equipment Tray” instead, gets a 2.0 litre turbo with 250bhp mated to a six-speed ‘box and a set of 19″ alloys.

Subaru BRZ coupe to start at $26,245

Subaru priced its rear-drive BRZ sports car on Thursday, starting at $26,245, including $750 destination. The Limited version with an automatic transmission will sticker at $29,345. The base model, called Premium, comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, alloy pedal covers, HID headlights and a touch-screen GPS navigation system with a 6-inch LCD display.