Blog on 2040Parts

Best Western Hotels rolling out EV charging points in the UK

We’re electric car sceptics – or at least sceptical about their ability to replace the ICE car as our principal form of personal transport – although EVs do have their place as runarounds in urban areas, where their limited range isn’t really a factor. But taking your EV off for a weekend jaunt does pose logistical problems when the average range is probably no more than 80 miles, and something worth making the effort for a weekend away is almost always going to be further away than that. But a bit of smart marketing by Best Western Hotels – a group of 270 or so independently run hotels round the UK – means EV drivers will soon be able to plot their weekend away on the basis of Best Western Hotels en route, with Best Western planning on fitting EV charging points in their car parks, with half their hotels having free charging points by September.

Renault Twin’Run takes on Renault 5 Turbo & Clio V6 (video)

Renault Twin’Run takes on the Renault 5 Turbo and Clio V6 It’s only a couple of days since the Renault Twin’Run Concept sprang in to life, complete with V6 Turbo powering the back wheels and looking for all the world like a spiritual successor to mad Renault’s from times gone by – like the R5 Turbo and Clio V6. And it seems that’s a point Renault want to make very clear as they appear to be about to launch a short ‘Adventure’ film starring the Twin’Run, R5 and Clio out playing, just so we all know what the Twin’Run’s heritage is. But this is Renault – and they’re French, you know – so instead of recruiting a trio of boy racers to pilot the three hot hatches they’ve enlisted the skills of a trio of beautiful women.

Monaco Grand Prix (2013): RESULT

The two Mercedes out front at the start of the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix With a Mercedes front row – and Rosberg on pole – can Mercedes finally turn their stunning qualifying in to a stunning result in Monaco? The two Mercedes out front at the start of the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix Monaco can often be a bit of a procession, with limited opportunities to pass, and the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix was no different. But it was so interspersed with accident and incident that it sidelined the boring bits to irrelevance and made for a cracking spectacle, a spectacle that ended, where it started, with Nico Rosberg taking a Mercedes win in his home Grand Prix.

Monaco Grand Prix: It’s a Mercedes front row

Nico Rosberg & Lewis Hamilton pictured after making it a Mercedes front row in Monaco Two weeks ago in Spain, Nico Rosberg pipped team mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position, and he’s pulled the same trick on the streets of Monaco today to ensure the second Mercedes front row in succession and his own third pole position in a row. Behind the Mercedes it’s a Red Bull second row, with Sebastian Vettel taking third place and Mark Webber fourth, with the third row made up of the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. McLaren managed to take seventh (Perez) and ninth (Button) with Sutil’s Force India in eighth and Vergne’s Torro Rosso in tenth.

Aston Martin teases new car – could this be the ‘Final Edition’ V12 Vantage? (video)

This tease image from the Aston Martin video appears to show a V12 Vantage outline We reported recently that Aston Martin had told its dealers to stop taking orders for the V12 Vantage Coupe, which we took to mean the Vantage is coming to the end of its shelf life, at least in its current iteration. But a tease video Aston Martin has released for a new car perhaps – ‘Coming Soon’ – points to a final edition version of the V12 Vantage Coupe before it gets put out to grass. The video (below) does show what appears to be a V12 Vantage; it’s the right shape, it has bonnet vents, bits of carbon fibre and an exhaust that sounds about right.

Jaguar’s 2013 Mille Miglia adventure – photos & video

David Gandy & Yasmin Le Bon cross the Mille Miglia finishing line in a Jaguar XK120 David Gandy & Yasmin Le Bon cross the Mille Miglia finishing line in a Jaguar XK120 Jaguar have been off playing at the 2013 Mille Miglia, and we have pictures and video of their outing with a pile of famous faces – and an F-Type or five. We’re pretty sure the Jaguar entries for the 2013 Mille Miglia were all about celebrating Jaguar’s great history in the original Mille Miglia event. And there’s plenty to celebrate and great historic Jaguars to show off too, like the XK 120 and the C Type.

Cadillac to auction first '14 CTS V-Sport to charity

General Motors said Wednesday that it will be donating the first production model of the 2014 Cadillac CTS V-Sport to the SAE Foundation. The car will then be auctioned at Barrett-Jackson later this year with the proceeds going to the foundation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics student programs. The CTS V-Sport, or as Cadillac officially spells it, Vsport, was revealed earlier this year at the New York Auto Show.

BMW Gran Lusso Coupe Concept plots 8-series return

This sleek two door coupe concept, unveiled at the 2013 Villa d'Este Concourso d'Eleganza on Italy's Lake Como shores, could provide the stylistic inspiration for a BMW 8-series return. The Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe is a contemporary four seater created in cooperation between BMW's in-house design team headed by Karim Habib and famed Italian design house Pininfarina. The car is based on a modified rear-drive BMW 7-series platform and uses the 760i's 6.0-liter, 536-hp turbo V12 for power.

Who's Where: Nicolas Huet named PATAC exterior design director

Nicholas Huet has joined PATAC as exterior design director. Based in Shanghai, he will report directly to design director Holt Ware. French-born Huet, who spent 20 years at BMW as a designer, is in charge of the exterior PATAC design department, working on Chinese-specific programs as well as GM Global programs.

Daimler consults Ford on turbo three-cylinder engine development

Daimler has strengthened ties with Ford Motor Co. after consulting with the U.S. automaker during the development of a three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine.

One Lap of the Web: Dying wishes, Euro cars and worst traffic jam in history

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we’re not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there’s more out there than we’d ever be able to cover, here’s our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. If you’d like to start the day off with a good cry, read about 17-year-old Zach Sobiech over at Autoblog.

Concept Car of the Week: Mercury El Gato (1970)

Of all the brands that marked American automobile history, Mercury had never been the most popular or the most loved, which ultimately led to its demise in 2011 when Ford chose to terminate the brand. To be fair only a handful of Mercury models are worth remembering: the 1950 Mercury Eight iconic base for custom cars, the 1955 Montclair, the Mustang-based Cougar, the Marauder X-100, the evil Cyclone Spoiler. However one of their coolest creations is fairly unknown mostly due its short concept car life: El Gato, in Spanish translating as "The Cat".

McLaren P1 Nurburgring record time is…a fiction for designers inspiration

The source for the story was an image taken from a Chinese website showing the McLaren logo and a time board showing the P1 as having done a lap of the Nurburgring in 6:33s. The image was real, but the story wasn’t. It seems the image was part of a ‘Mood Board’ McLaren put together when they were designing the P1 to inspire their designers with what could be possible, and that’s found its way on to the Interwebs in China.

Design Essay: BMW i – Setting the industry agenda for the next decade

Many have already dismissed BMW i as a radical experiment too far ahead of its time, but looking beyond the glossy carbon fiber facade reveals three ways it will change the automotive landscape during the next decade: 1. Re-define the EV category Despite Tesla, Nissan, GM, Renault and Toyota all operating in the EV space, global sales in 2012 totaled just 54,000. Many put this down to high-cost and range anxiety, but another key factor is nearly always overlooked.

Peter Stevens and Julian Thomson lead a discussion on the past, present and future of car design

As part of its sponsorship of London's Clerkenwell Design Week, Jaguar and the Royal College of Art brought together three generations of the design school to discuss the past, present and possible future of car design. Held in a suitably grimy warehouse in east London – with the sculpture by RCA students Ewan Gallimore and Claire Mille's we showed you earlier this week sat outside – Professor Dale Harrow, dean of the School of Design and head of its Vehicle Design program introduced Professor Peter Stevens, Julian Thomson, Jaguar's advanced design director and Alexandra Palmowski project designer advanced colour and material at Jaguar took the audience through their careers. Charismatic as ever, Peter Stevens kicked off proceedings that moved chronologically through the decades by explaining how he first became interested in "the art if car design, allied to the science of how they work" through his artistic parents and uncle – journalist and motoring adventurer – Denis Jenkinson during the 1950s and 60s.

Renault Twin’Run gets 316bhp & pays homage to the Renault 5 Turbo

The Twin’Run is an extreme version of the next Twingo and manages to pay homage to the old Renault 5, with a thumping great V6 bolted in the middle and pumping out 316bhp and 280lb/ft of torque, enough to get to 62mph in 4.5 seconds and on to 155mph. The Nissan-sourced V6 gets mated to a SADEV six-speed sequential gearbox and comes with a limited slip diff to stop the tyres burning off when the going gets brisk. As well as endowing the Twin’Run with lots of power, Renault has also kept weight down to 950kg by using a tubular chassis, glass-polyester composite for the bodywork, lumps of carbon fibre and not a hugely laden interior.

Jaguar tops J. D. Power Survey again in 2013

Even though the Jaguar XF actually slipped from 2nd to 3rd in the top cars section (although it was the ‘Best Executive Car’), behind the Skoda Superb and Skoda Yeti, it received five star ratings for performance, service and running costs and owners rated it as ‘Excellent’ across all categories. And it was more good news for Jaguar Land Rover as Land Rover was rated the most improved brand in 2013, jumping in to the top ten (in 6th place) for the first time, with Freelander owners noting an improved dealer experience and Discovery owners reporting 30 per cent fewer faults – and actually leading the SUV sector for reliability. That’ll help the still lingering perception that JLR’s cars can be ‘fragile’.

McLaren celebrates 50th birthday with special edition 12C supercar (2013)

McLaren will build 100 special edition 12C supercars to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2013: 50 coupes and 50 folding hard-top Spiders. The birthday edition cars get bespoke lightweight components from McLaren Special Operations (MSO) and extra accessories, as well as a hefty price bump. You'll pay £196,000 for a hard-top McLaren 50 12C, and £215,500 for the McLaren 50 12C Spider – a hefty £20,000 rise over the standard cars' price tags.

BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé revealed ahead of debut at 2013 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este

The BMW Gran Lusso Coupe by Pininfarina revealed ahead of Villa d’Este Or at least it still does if you expect the new 8 Series to look like a two-door version of the next generation 7 Series, rather than a completely individual model like the old 8 Series. Underpinning the Gran Lusso Coupe is the same platform the 7 Series uses and the same V12 from the 760i, which makes it both easier to bolt the Gran Lusso together and imagine it as future production model. The exterior of the Gran Lusso looks a bit like a coachbuilt version of a big BMW coupe, with most of the BMW design cues intact – if sharpened somewhat – with short overhangs and a long wheelbase.

Renault TwinRun hot hatch concept (2013) first official pictures

Renault will show off this mid-engined supermini concept at the 2013 Monaco Grand prix race weekend. Called the TwinRun, the R5 Turbo-inspired creation is powered by a mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6, and will hit 155mph flat out. The TwinRun is the latest in a series of wacky Renault concept cars, following the Twizy RS F1 and Twin-Z supermini into the limelight.

Nissan 370Z Nismo cost £36,995 & rest of 370Z range gets a price cut

The extra bang you get from the Nismo isn’t that great – it gets just 13bhp more than the regular 370Z – but it does get tweaked suspension, brakes and a sports exhaust as well as a rather OTT body kit. The body kit may be a bit too brash for many tastes, but Nissan do say it gives the 370Z levels of downforce that rival the GT-R, so when your neighbours laugh at your Halfords-esque 370Z you can tell them it’s all about the go and not the show. We’re sure they’ll believe you.

New Ecotec 2.5-liter to power 2014 Chevy Impala

The 2014 Chevy Impala will be the first to use General Motors' new 2.5-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine. The company says it'll be smoother, quieter and more powerful than the mills it replaces. The least expensive Impala will house the new motor, which makes 196 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque, and start at $27,535.

2014 Corvette Stingray twins spotted in the wild

Sure, we've seen the new Corvette Stingray, crawled all over the C7 at car shows, seen interior 360 videos of it and maybe, just maybe, had some time behind the wheel (you'll know soon enough). But there's something special about spotting the car on public roads -- there's something even more special about spotting a pair of them nose-to-tail in rush-hour traffic. The new Corvette in front appears to be Crystal red tintcoat, a darker, extra-cost color.

Ford to cut Australian manufacturing in 2016

Ford Motor Co., saddled with high costs, falling sales and financial losses, will close Australian car and engine assembly plants in October 2016 after almost nine decades of manufacturing in the country. Ford, the smallest of the country's three manufacturers after Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors, will shut its assembly plant in Broadmeadows in northern Melbourne and an engine plant in Geelong to the west of the city, Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano said.

BAC Mono for sale: The only brand new Mono for sale…in the World

That’s because the BAC Mono is not just a stunning car to drive with its 2.3 litre 4-cylinder Cosworth engine delivering 280bhp in a car that weighs so little it gets a power to weight ratio of 520bhp per tonne, and can get to 62mph in a scant 2.8 seconds, and comes with a great spec. The Mono is built using carbon fibre composite wrapped round a steel safety cell, an FIA compliant steel rollover structure, an F3-spec 6-speed sequential ‘box, pushrod suspension, racing damping, AP brakes and special tryes from Khumo. And it’s properly bolted together too, unlike many track-focused cars.

2014 VW Golf R Mk 7 spy video

We did think, a few weeks ago when VW were playing tease with a ‘Frozen Beast’ teaser, that they were about to reveal (at least a concept of) the 2014 Golf R. But it wasn’t. In fact, it was the Mk 6 Golf R Cabriolet, rather late to the Mk6 party with the Mk 7 Golf now in the wild.

Tesla repays government loans – a first, say Tesla. Chrysler disagree.

2013 is turning in to a very good year for Tesla. The Tesla Model S has had more praise heaped on it than almost any car ever has, they are making an operating profit and their shares are going through the roof. So with the stars aligning for Tesla they’ve taken the opportunity to pay back $465 million of US Department of Energy loans, nine years early.

Lexus IS Coupe arriving in 2014 & IS F V8 on the way

Now it looks like Lexus is going to bring the LF-CC to production life in 2014 as the Lexus IS Coupe (although there are rumours it could be the RC, but that may be for a production version of the even more appealing LF-LC as a range-topping Lexus Coupe) and equip it with the same petrol engine and hybrid options as the IS saloon. What is also in prospect is a return of the IS F – complete with sizeable V8 power – which, if it does arrive, will see the IS Coupe coming with the F engine option and making a very promising foray in to the powerful V8 Coupe market. What doesn’t seem likely is that Lexus are going to bother with a diesel option for the IS or Coupe, despite conventional wisdom saying they need a diesel option to compete in Europe because - as they’ve already demonstrated with the IS 300h – they can deliver an appealing and competitive hybrid with decent performance and price, and bring it in with under 100g/km emissions – perfect for the business market.

McLaren 50 12C & 12C Spider celebrate McLaren’s 50th anniversary

McLaren say they will be building a maximum of 50 each of the 50 12C Coupe and 12C Spider to mark the occasion, both of which get special features provided by McLaren Special Operations – the same McLaren division that created the 12C High Sport. That means a new front bumper which has been optimised by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for more downforce, extra carbon fibre and kevlar exterior bits, ceramic brakes, 19″ front and 20″ rear alloys, full leather, extra carbon fibre in the cabin, a heritage badge and a numbered plaque. There will be the option of three colours for the 50th anniversary 12Cs - Carbon Black, Supernova Silver and, of course, McLaren Orange – and each car will get its own silver car cover, a limited edition key in a carbon fibre box and a signed art print (sadly, there’s no sign of a tool chest or Tag Heuer watch).

Nissan slashes 370Z price and adds hot Nismo model for 2013

Nissan has given the 370Z a shot in the arm for its fourth year on sale, cutting the price of the entry-level model by £3,005, and adding a new range-topper: the upgraded 370Z Nismo. So just how cheap is a new 370Z now? You can get a base-spec coupe for £26,995, which comes with the facelifted front end (new bumper and LED running lights) plus new 18in alloys.