Yamaha 115hp 4 Stroke Engine Cowl Cover on 2040-parts.com

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production to double to cope with demand

It’s particularly appealing if you like a car with a decent turn of speed – the V60 will do 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds – like the reassurance and practicality of 4WD – the V60′s electric motor drives the back wheels – drive in to London on a regular basis – the 48g/km emissions are congestion charge free – and get taxed as BIK from your company. If all those apply – and you already appreciate the Volvo V60 is a very good car to start with – then the V60 plug-in hybrid is a bit of a no-brainer, even with a headline price of nearly £50k (which gets within £6k of an equivalent non plug-in after the taxpayer has chipped in). It seems that many buyers agree, and Volvo is being inundated with orders.

Fashion link-up creates Mii by Mango

FASHIONISTAS everywhere will only be thinking about Mii this summer, after Seat and fashion retailer Mango announced a team effort to produce a special edition city car. The Mii by Mango is just the first step in a partnership between the two Spanish giants, tweaking the surprisingly spacious little car with unique styling details and a special colour option called Nude. Dark grey alloy wheels, different side skirts and Mii by Mango badges mark the model out from its more straight-laced siblings.

How the Nissan Qashqai reinvented the family car

The 2014 Nissan Qashqai (above) arrived in showrooms this week, but will the second-generation model be as groundbreaking as the first? Inevitably, the all-new Qashqai looks very similar to the outgoing model, but why change a winning formula? The original Qashqai was, arguably, the most successful new family car launch since the original Volkswagen Golf from 1974. And it came out of the blue, because Nissan was perhaps the last company anyone would have expected to come up with such a revolutionary design.