97 Catera Air Bag Passenger Side Dash on 2040-parts.com

Ford Focus BEV at 2009 Frankfurt motor show

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 15 September 2009 10:00 Not one to miss out on a party, Ford gatecrashed the French brands’ electric carfest at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show. The new Focus BEV (battery electric vechicle) is a working prototype and not bound for production – yet, although that is the longer term intention. A demo programme starts with 15 cars hitting UK roads in 2010.

Second annual ENG Automotive Design Summit held in Rome

European Networking Group (ENG) held their second annual Automotive Design Summit May 12-13. To follow on from the success of last years event in Barcelona, the event was held in the stylish Es Hotel in Rome, Italy. The event featured workshops sessions and business case studies from some of the most renowned designers in the industry, seeking to bring both knowledge and inspiration to the participants over the two day event.

Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer revealed: Price from £49,500

Vauxhall has revealed the Estate version of the VXR8 – the Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer – which offers oodles of room and 425bhp. That sort of power in an estate car certainly offers a different experience to regular load-luggers with 0-62mph coming up in a slightly silly 4.9 seconds. But, despite looking a bit past its prime even though it’s a new model, the VXR8 Tourer gets a reasonably sophisticated setup with McPherson Strut with progressive coils at the front and a multi-link setup at the back, launch control and a limited slip diff, all conspiring to try and put the VXR8 Tourer’s 425bhp power down through the rear wheels.