Volkswagen Passat Engine Brain Box Electronic Control Module; 6 Cyl 96 on 2040-parts.com

Interior Motives China Conference 2013 – Day One

This year's Interior Motives China Conference got off to a great start yesterday in its new home at the Hilton Hongqiao in Shanghai. The theme of this year's event is 'Technology and Tradition; Old meets new in modern-day China.' Interior Motives is the print magazine from Car Design News, which focuses on the design development of vehicle interiors. The sixth running of the annual conference has seen a large shift in the Chinese market since the first.

GM weighs moving next GMC Sierra upscale

General Motors will do more to differentiate the GMC Sierra from the Chevrolet Silverado when redesigned versions of the pickups go on sale in the first half of 2013. Sierra models may get a longer list of standard equipment and a higher sticker price than comparable Silverados, Mark Reuss, GM president of North America, said in an interview at the Detroit auto show. A similar strategy has proved successful in differentiating GMC's Terrain and Yukon models from Chevrolet's Equinox, Tahoe and Suburban.

Electric cars get a £500 million government cash boost – but will it get spent?

The new BMW i3 EV (pictured) will be subsidised until 2017. The subsidy of up to £5000 paid to buyers of electric cars has been with us for three years, but it hasn’t had much impact on EV sales and it did look like the government had decided to scrap it all together. But it looks like the coalition has allowed Nick Clegg to have his way with EV subsides in a move that will see £500 million injected in to promoting and supporting electric cars in the UK in the next few years.