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Japan quake threatens to delay U.S. output of Nissan Leaf EV

The March 11 earthquake in Japan could force Nissan to delay the start of U.S. production of its Leaf electric vehicle, now scheduled for late 2012. “The earthquake is putting us in a very difficult situation,” said Hideaki Watanabe, head of Nissan's Global Zero Emission Vehicle Business Unit.

2012 Mercedes A-Class AMG to get 350bhp & 4WD

Mercedes Concept-A gets unveiled in Shanghai It’s rather hard to imagine the current Mercedes A-Class coming with 350bhp running through its front wheels. It may have managed to pass the Elk test to make it safe, but 350bhp would be enough to tear the steering wheel from your hands and roll you over in a brisk bend. But this isn’t the current A-Class we’re talking about, but the 2012 Mercedes A-Class based on the very fine-looking Mercedes Concept-A we reported a couple of weeks ago, and which bowed in at Shanghai this week.

MINI John Cooper Works Range gets a new engine

MINI JCW range gets new engines MINI has had a play and a tweak with the 1.6 litre turbo engine in the MINI John Cooper Works Range to make it more appealing. The Geneva Motor Show this year saw the debut of the latest MINI JCW – the MINI Countryman John Cooper Works – and with it output figures we though might be arriving across the MINI JCW range. Those figures saw the output of the 1.6 litre lump in the JCW rise to 215bhp and, surprisingly, managed to come in with economy figures for the JCW Countryman that were much the same as the rest of the JCW range.