115hp Suzuki Trim Relay Assy. on 2040-parts.com

CAR interviews BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk (2009)

By Guy Bird Motor Industry 03 November 2009 09:22 CAR: Chris Bangle once told a great story about sending BMW designers to study with an origami master to gain influence. Judging by the Vision EfficientDynamics concept it looks like you were on that trip? Adrian van Hooydonk: I didn’t go along but in the recent past our designers have experimented with a lot of things – folded metal, folded paper, even plywood – and on this concept car maybe all of that came to fruition.

2014 Volkswagen Polo now on sale – price from £11,100 to £19,715

The facelifted 2014 VW Polo (pictured) is now on sale The 2014 facelift for the VW Polo was revealed back in January and, although the cosmetic tweaks were the usual facelift fodder – tweaked bumpers and grill, new lights, new alloys and interior updates – the big changes came under the bonnet. New 3-cylinder engines arrive for the Polo with two new 1.0 litre petrols with 60PS or 75 PS, two 1.2 litre petrols with 90 or 110PS and and extra 10-PS for the 1.4 litre, which also gets cylinder deactivation. The diesel BlueMotion also gets dropped in favour of a petrol BlueMotion offering 68.9mpg from its 1.0 litre 3-pot and there’s a pair of 1.4 litre diesels with 75 or 90PS replacing the old 1.2 and 1.6 litre diesels.

New Jaguar XJ: The Paris video

Jaguar has produced a moody video of the new XJ in Paris Lucy Jordan lamented that she’d ‘Never ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair’. But if she ever had (apart from in her imaginings) she’d have realised it is – as many romantic notions are – a bit of a ‘mare. Smelly, noisy, uncomfortable and rather bad for your car’s paintwork.