1974 Ford Mercury Torino Montego (police) 460 Ci V8 Car Sun Electric Spec Sheet on 2040-parts.com

Volvo V40 Review: D3 SE Nav (2012)

This week we have Volvo’s very promising new V40 in for review and test in the guise of the V40 D3 SE Nav manual. For perhaps the first time, Volvo are offering a serious alternative to cars like the BMW 1 Series (and the new Mercedes A Class) with the V40. Certainly on all the things that grab the headlines – looks, performance and equipment – the V40 seems to be a very credible effort from Volvo.

Winners and Losers: Porsche sales pop in April

Porsche sales spiked 82 percent in April and are up 46 percent for the year, parking the luxury automaker among the top five winners so far for 2011. The redesigned Cayenne made the biggest contribution, with sales up an eye-popping 384 percent from last April and 141 percent for this year. Porsche counted 1,578 copies of the Cayenne sold in April, versus 326 the year before.

Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.