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One Lap of the Web: Car stuff you may have missed

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. -- Speedhunters brings us a gorgeous photo essay of cars on the N

New BMW website shows off ActiveE data

BMW launched a new website Thursday that presents range, cost savings and environmental impact data taken from 700 ActiveE drivers (dubbed “Electronauts” by BMW … really guys?) to inform consumers about the potential savings of electric vehicles. Titled the "Electronaut Effect," BMW's BMWActivatetheFuture.com, is dedicated to the ActiveE drivers, providing even more data and allowing the drivers to compare a variety of data, including the average number of charges each car requires per day and how performance varies from the East Coast to the west. Through this site, ActiveE drivers can also see which "Electronauts" are in the top 25 based on a specified set of data points, for instance who has traveled the most miles and who has charged the vehicle the least.

Most 'American-made' 2013 cars

Domestic brands have the most American-made content in the United States according to a new American Automobile Labeling Act reports. The AALA was enacted in 1992 to inform consumers about the percentage of American content which comprises each car. AALA data specifies the percentage of U.S./Canadian parts content for each vehicle, including where the engine and transmissions were built.

New 2013 Nissan LEAF goes the ‘Battery Lease’ route UPDATED

Even though you will be paying the same rate as you did in the first year, you’ll have to make do with the old batteries unless they fall below the 9 bar level, when Nissan will replace them under warranty. There is no doubt that Nissan are still convinced the future is the electric car, and the LEAF – the world’s best-selling electric car – is the future of motoring. And the LEAF is a convincing car if all you want is a well-built family car to transport you round your local area, even if it will cost an arm and a leg to buy in comparison to an ICE car.

Sturgess Jaguar is the Franchised Main Dealer of the Year 2013

The dealer experience can make or break your relationship with a car brand, so having a strong, high profile group of main dealers that offers not just a showroom full of cars, but staff who are knowledgeable, helpful and prepared to go the extra mile, makes the difference. So Jaguar will be suitably chuffed that not only did March see them deliver their best sales results ever but that one of their main dealers – Sturgess Jaguar in Leicester – has been named Franchised Main dealer of the year in the Motor Codes Garage of the Year Awards run by Motor Codes, a government-backed operator of codes of practice for the motor industry. Motor Codes had 11,500 garage users rate their experience of of customer service in garages across the UK, and Sturgess came out on top in the Main dealer Franchise gong thanks to its “transparent, customer-focused approach and its all-round efforts to accommodate all types of customer requirements”.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda recall 3.4 million cars over Airbag fault

As recalls go, 3.4 million cars around the globe is a big number, but it’s that big because a parts supplier - Takata Corp – supplied the same airbag part to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda, so the recall involves all four Japanese car makers. The part at fault could cause the airbag inflator to rupture and deploy the airbag abnormally, although there have been no reports of injuries due to the potentially faulty part and just five reports of the fault existing – three in the US and two in Japan. In the UK the number of cars affected – and do note the recall only affects cars sold between 2000 and 2004 – appears to be about 75,000 for Toyota, 60,000 for Nissan, 15,000 for Honda and 2.000 for Mazda, and all four car makers will be getting in touch with owners during the next month to book their cars in for free replacement of the part.

MG CS SUV Concept heading for Shanghai Motor Show

MG are still struggling to make much of an impact on the car landscape, but one car that could change that is a funky urban crossover / SUV to give cars like the Nissan Juke a run for their money. That looked to be on the cards last year when MG turned up at the Beijing Motor Show with the MG Icon, an SUV.Crossover Concept that took the ‘Ugly but Cute’ style cues from the Juke but grafted on a nose that looked like it could have come from MG’s sports car past. The Icon was a decent effort – and even won an award for ‘Best Concept’ at Beijing from Autoweek – but it looks like MG has decided the design of the Icon was just a bit too radical, so they’ve toned it down with a new concept heading for this year’s Shanghai Motor Show – the MG CS Concept.

Bugatti’s 254mph Veyron Vitesse officially world’s fastest drop-top

The Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse has been officially confirmed as the world’s fastest open-top production car, having been clocked at 254.04mph. The milestone will be celebrated (naturally) with a limited run of special ‘World Record Edition’ Grand Sport Vitesses (which has been on sale since January 2012), with the commemorative cars sporting orange flashes to the carbonfibre bodywork, and orange wheels. Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse: a 250mph wind in your hair Bugatti admits that the initial open-top speed target for the Bugatti Grand Sport was a piffling 233mph.

Citroen DS Wild Rubis concept (2013) first official pictures

Citroen's DS Wild Rubis concept shows how a DS-badged SUV could look, and could lead to a high-riding model for the 4x4-loving Chinese market. It's the latest concept to showcase a possible future styling direction for Citroen's DS sub-brand, the quasi-premium offshoot of Citroen's main range. Tell me about the Citroen DS Wild Rubis Riding on 21in wheels, the Wild Rubis has a Mercedes ML-class-sized footprint, but is lower than a conventional posh-roader, standing 1.59m tall – about the same height as Citroen's own DS4 crossover.

2013 Ford Mondeo: Price cuts & new models

That means a simplified lineup for the new Mondeo and the introduction of a cheaper entry-level model – the Mondeo Graphite – and a new model at the top end – the Titanium X Business Edition – with more equipment and a lower price. The Mondeo Graphite comes with 17″ alloys, sports suspension, Bluetooth, AirCon and part leather and starts at £15,995 – more than £2k cheaper than the former entry-level Mondeo Edge. At the other end of the scale, Ford are introducing the Titanium X Business Edition which replaces both the Titanium and Titanium X, gets more equipment than the Titanium X and yet costs £1500 less.

Chrysler announces six recalls

More than 260,000 vehicles will be impacted by the six recalls Chrysler announced Tuesday. None are particularly serious, but if you own a Chrysler product we've summarized the list below. -- 78,500 Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty 4x2 models from the 2007 and 2008 model years are being recalled to brace a heat shield that can loosen and contact the driveshaft, causing wear and possible breakage over time.

Pfadt Race Engineering Cadillac ATS hits 162.5 at Texas Mile

Pfadt Race Engineering is claiming it has the world's fastest Cadillac ATS after clocking 162.5 mph in the standing mile at the latest Texas Mile event in Beeville. Pfadt used the turbocharged four-cylinder ATS as a starting point and upgraded the turbo, intercooler, suspension and exhaust. Pfadt says the engine improvements are responsible for adding more than 100 extra hp in the lightweight luxury sedan, which starts with 272 hp.

New Mercedes-Benz S-class spotted in SoCal

The new Mercedes-Benz S-class must be hustling toward the developmental-cycle finish line, because it's been spotted en masse in places such as Toronto (where it must be undergoing cold-weather testing) and Irvine, Calif. (where it must be gauging the interest of Benz-crazy vox populi). Because as devoid as it is of bodywork-breaking pillboxes, camera-obfuscating swirl paint, and surly engineers, the fact that it's seen here in little more than some sticky paper and a pair of cheap sunglasses on the driver means that the elder statesman of the automotive world is readying its next debut.

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the world

It’s a big feather in Ford’s cap and vindication of their ‘One Ford’ global product strategy, which has finally seen Ford realise that the world wants the cars it makes and designs in Europe. Focus sales rose in the US by 40 per cent in 2012 (a market Ford would have declared completely unsuitable for a relatively compact European hatch a decade ago) and China accounted for a massive one in four of all Focus sold, a rise of 51 per cent, making the Focus the best-selling passenger car in China. Not only did the Focus take the best selling car (actually, best selling nameplate), the Ford Fiesta did well to, coming in sixth on Polk’s list with a not insignificant 723,130 registrations around the world.

Interior Motives Design Awards 2013 deadline this Friday

The deadline for entries to the Interior Motives Design Awards is Friday 12th April. You have just three more days to have your work evaluated by some of the most influential figures in the automotive design industry, including Volkswagen's Romulus Rost and Wolfgang-Müller-Pietralla, and Amko Leenarts and David Woodhouse of Ford. Should your project reach the final round of judging, it will be displayed at a glamorous awards ceremony in Frankfurt on 9th September, the eve of the first Frankfurt Motor Show press day.

Hyundai beefs up its WRC team

Hyundai revealed last year that they’re preparing to take on the World Rally Championship (WRC) from 2014 when a rally car based on the i20 will take to the world rally stage to cast some sport fairy dust on Hyundai’s showroom cars. At that time we had little information about the team, but in January we learnt that Hyundai had appointed Michel Nandan to head up their WRC efforts, a good move as Nandon was the technical director for the Peugeot WRC team until 2005, so he knows his stuff. Now we learn that Hyundai is beefing up its WRC team as it prepares for a full season of WRC in 2014.

Tracker launches ‘My Tracker’ & opens up a whole new market

If you have a car that costs a bit more than average, you’ve probably been told you need to fit a Tracker if you want to get it insured, so the insurance company has a fighting chance of recovering your car in quick sticks if a light-fingered lout makes off with your pride and joy. It’s a clever system that uses hidden sensors to track the car’s movements and helps the police find your car when it’s been stolen. And it’s a good business for Tracker, who have demonstrated the recovery rate of stolen vehicles is far higher when their system is fitted which means a ready market when insurance companies insist it’s fitted to high value cars.

The world's best-selling passenger car is…

UPDATE-Ford announced Tuesday the Focus nameplate sold more than 1,020,000 units in 2012 making it the best-selling passenger car in the world. Data supporting the claim came from Polk's annual vehicle-registration review, which, since it accounts for data from around the globe, comes out three to four months later than other 2012 recap results. In China, registrations for Focus vehicles were up 51 percent, accounting for nearly one in four global Focus sales, according to Polk.

Renault/Lovegrove Studio Twin'Z concept

The Renault Twin'Z concept is a collaborative project with British designer Ross Lovegrove, filling the fifth stage in Laurens van den Acker's 'lifecycle' – Play. It's currently on display at the Milan Salone. Essentially previewing the all-new, rear-engined Twingo co-developed with Daimler, the Twin'Z takes this relatively humble city car and, thanks to the input of Lovegrove, it appears to have taken on an organic nature, which shouldn't be unexpected to those familiar with his work.

Jaguar F-Type: On sale 20th April 2013

But that’s set to change this month with the new Jaguar F-Type officially going on sale on 20th April (in the UK, at least), when Jaguar are expecting many of the thousands of ‘Expressions of Interest’ in the F-Type to turn in to confirmed orders. And so they should. From an initial scepticism about Jaguar’s seemingly ‘premium’ pricing of the F-Type, we eventually concluded it was nothing of the sort.

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Convertible Leaks

It looks like the ‘New’ Bugatti promised yesterday is the Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Convertible, not the ‘Super’ Veyron. We should have known. Yesterday we reported that Bugatti are teasing ’the latest example of exceptional Bugatti performance’, which we thought might be the much touted ‘Super’ Veyron offering 1600hp.

New Maserati Ghibli Leaks UPDATED: Now Official

The new Maserati Ghibli – the new, smaller version of the Quattroporte – has leaked ahead of a reveal later this week and a debut at the Shanghai Motor Show. Update: Maserati has now officially revealed the Ghibli with the same three photos we published. Apart from the information below, the only other confirmation is that the new Maserati Ghibli will also be offered with the first diesel engine in a Maserati, allowing it to compete with cars like the Audi A6 and the Jaguar XF 3.0 litre Diesel S.

Maserati Ghibli (2013) first official pictures

This is Maserati's new sports saloon: the Ghibli. The first ever Maserati to get diesel engine power, the Ghibli will go on sale in autumn 2013, and sit below the Quattroporte super-limo in the Maserati range. Maserati Ghibli: the spec All Ghiblis will be powered by Ferrari-fettled versions of Chrysler’s ‘Pentastar’ twin-turbocharged V6 engines, mounted up front and mated to eight-speed paddle-shift gearboxes.

Land Rover Defender to be built in Sri Lanka

The Land Rover Defender is to be built outside the UK in a new plant in Sri Lanka to produce Defenders for the region. Land Rover are assisting and training staff at a new assembly plant in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, run by Sathosa Motors PLC in a 50-50 deal with Land Rover distributors SML Frontier Automotive, with $1 million being invested to get the project up and running this year. It seems clear from the level of investment that this is simply an assembly operation using CKD kits from the UK for the Defender, but Sri Lank’s Daily News is reporting that there are plans to invest $500 million in the project.

Maserati Ghibli

Maserati has unveiled the first images of the 2013 Ghibli ahead of its official debut next week at the Shanghai Auto Show. While the Ghibli badge has previously been reserved for coupés – both Giugiaro's 1967 original and Gandini's Biturbo-based 1992 Ghibli II – this is a four-door sports sedan to sit below the larger Quattroporte revealed in January at the North American International Auto Show. It's the first time the carmaker has built a car for the E-segment since the 1994 Quattroporte IV and is set to challenge high end of the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-series in AMG and M5 guises respectively.

Hamann introduces Mission body kit for BMW M5

Hamann Motorsport isn't known for being subtle. When it isn't pumping up G-Wagens and Porsches, it's tie-dying a McLaren MP4-12C. Its newest package starts with the already aggressive-looking BMW M5, then slices up the bodywork in typical Hamann fashion.

Elio three-wheeler claims 672 miles on one tank of fuel

Elio Motors thinks its new three-wheeled vehicle will be the next big thing in transportation. Before your eyes roll out of your head, let's look at the claims. Top speed -- more than 100 mph.

Texting tragedy recounted by state trooper

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is spreading messages aimed at ending distracted driving in honor of tweet, LaHood shared a touching story written by a Kansas state trooper. In the story, trooper Casey Simoneau recounts taking inventory of a car accident scene. The accident was caused by one driver hitting another car head-on after attempting to pass while texting.

Think you can talk and drive? Not so much…

It has been well documented that texting while driving is a risky practice that results in thousands of motor-vehicle deaths each year. But talking rather than texting isn't really a better alternative, according to experts at the National Safety Council. The council is hoping to better explain why driving and talking on a cell phone is so dangerous by examining how the brain works when faced with multiple cognitive tasks.