Blog on 2040Parts

New Peugeot 208 production cut as sales disappoint

Peugeot is cutting back on production of the new 208 as its sales fail to reach expectations, just six months on from launch. It’s not enough when Europe is ion the midst of an economic crisis and car buyers are polarised between ‘budget’ cars that offer more for less than mainstream offerings and ‘Premium’ models that are bought on the back of a preconceived notion of more kudos. That leaves car makers like Peugeot (and Renault, Citroen, Vauxhall, Ford, Opel, Fiat…) between a rock and a hard place, unable – or unwilling – to compete with the offerings from Korea and saddled with a brand that doesn’t have the ‘class’ of an Audi or a BMW or a Mercedes or even a VW.

2013 Range Rover gets its first Award

The 2013 Range Rover – which has just arrived at the 2012 Paris Motor Show – has garnered its first award as the top 4×4 by the Sunday Times. It seems that the Sunday Times felt able to judge all that mattered about the new Range Rover from a ride in the passenger seat of a new Range Rover being driven by Land Rover’s Chief Engineer, Mike Cross. Very odd.

Volvo V40 Cross Country & V40 R-Design: UK Price

We have UK prices for the Volvo V40 R-Design and V40 Cross Country. The V40 Cross Country starts at £22,595 and the V40 R-Design at £22,295. The Volvo V40 Cross Country will cost from £22,595 for the V40 Cross Country D2 SE which comes as standard with 16″ alloys, folding door mirrors with puddle lights, rain sensor, Volvo’s textile/T-Tec upholstery, tread plates and silver roof rails.

Hyundai Veloster Review: Sport 1.6 GDi (2012)

We have the new Hyundai Veloster Sport 1.6 GDi – complete with Media Pack – in for review and road test. A quirky Hyundai coupe – but is it any good? Along with a sizeable chunk of UK car buyers, we’re big fans of the recent cars from Hyundai.

Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake by Brabus (2012)

Mercedes tuning specialist Brabus has unveiled a raft of packages for the new CLS Shooting Brake. A range of tune-ups, body addenda, alloy wheel designs and sports exhaust packages are to be offered, but the real headline act is the 611bhp option for the flagship CLS63 AMG variant. It's not just a mad-cap power struggle though; Brabus offers a three-year/62,000-mile warranty on all its power upgrades, so bear that in mind if the other half isn't convinced your new family estate needs McLaren 12C-chasing poke.

Mercedes SLS Electric Drive takes to the track

Mercedes-Benz turned heads at the Paris motor show with the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive. The cool blue supercar costs $540,000, making it Mercedes-Benz’s most expensive car in the dealership. Mercedes also took the car to the Ascari race track in Spain.

Maserati sedan spied near Modena

Maserati has confirmed its upcoming sedan will be called the Ghibli, and a heavily covered four-door model has been captured near Modena, Italy. Is this the purported E-segment sedan that could spell sales volume and an extension of the Maserati brand? We hear the prototype appeared to be smaller than the Quattroporte and with a different interior.

Who's Where: Ken Ma joins Geely Automobile as Design Director

Ken Ma (Ma Zheng Kun) has joined Geely Automobile as Design Director. His role will be to assist the work of Geely Group Senior Vice Design President, Peter Horbury, in enhancing the Geely brand's design capacity. Ma was formerly Vice President of Design for Changan, a position he held for a year before resigning.

Webinars: Autodesk – Concept Modeling with Maya

Autodesk presented its third Webinar in the series entitled ‘Concept Modeling with Maya' that illustrates how the software helps to create concept models. Martin Emila of Autodesk showed how Maya could accelerate the development of a design concept with the help of polygonal modeling workflow, and how it can be integrated into common workflow - starting with first ideation sketch, move to polygon model and continue to surfacing and visualization. Emila's four-year career at Autodesk has largely focused on conceptual design and visualization.

2013 Renault Clio: Price & Specification revealed

The new 2013 Renault Clio 4 arrived officially at the Paris Motor Show and we now have full details of price and specification ahead of the on sale date. Renault say the new Clio is better to own and better to drive than any Clio before. It’s wider and longer, lower and lighter with only five doors on offer starting at a lower price than before, but with much more equipment in the price.

Lamborghini 50th Anniversary Grand Tour

2013 is the 50th anniversary of the creation of Lamborghini by Ferruccio Lamborghini and is being celebrated by the Lamborghini 50th Anniversary Grand Tour. Ferruccio Lamborghini may just have been a tractor builder in the eyes of Enzo Ferrari, but 50 years on from the point where Ferruccio Lamborghini started to make the cars he wanted to drive – because Ferrari didn’t – Lamborghini can be thought of as Ferrari’s equal – if historically a slightly more barking one. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lamborghini’s first car, Lamborghini are organising events around the world in 2013 to celebrate all things Sant’Agata, culminating in the Lamborghini 50th Anniversary Grand Tour on 7th – 11th May 2013.

Electric car sales DOWN 20% in 2012 – time to scrap subsidies for EVs?

The SMMT are reporting that sales of electric cars in the UK have fallen by 20 per cent in the year to date (2012). Despite every green evangelist proclaiming that electric cars are the way to save the planet from imminent doom, UK car buyers obviously disagree. Despite a taxpayer bribe of £5000 to buy an over-priced electric car, car buyers have not exactly taken to the EV in droves.

CAR interviews Seat design chief Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos (2012)

At September’s Paris motor show, CAR interview Seat Head of Design Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, quizzing him on the new Leon, Toledo, future SEAT concepts, and his design inspirations. Read our chat in full here. CAR: How much flexibility does the VW Group’s new MQB shared platform offer you as a designer?

Range Rover Evoque gets cheaper in USA

Land Rover has introduced a new entry-level Range Rover Evoque for the US with fewer toys and a lower price tag. It’s quite hard to believe that the USA has taken to the Range Rover Evoque considering their love for full size SUVs and their general feeling of unease about the reliability of Land Rover’s products. But take to the Evoque they have, although perhaps not quite in the numbers Land Rover would like.

Japanese Grand Prix (2012) RESULT

With the Red Bulls on pole for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, will Sebastian Vettel be able to take a win to keep his hopes of a title on track? Last year’s Japanese Grand Prix saw Sebastian Vettel start on pole in the quest to secure the point he needed to claim the drivers championship. This year he’s on pole again for Red Bull, with team mate Webber alongside, as he battles to catch Alonso before the end of the season.

New Lotus Esprit cancelled? Not according to Lotus

The Interwebs are rife with rumours that the new Lotus Esprit has been cancelled. But Lotus say it’s not and the claims are made up. Dany Bahar was finally ousted from Lotus after the new owners of Lotus managed to remove the flamboyant former Ferrari man from his role at Lotus and ditch his fantasy plans to turn Lotus in to a cross between Aston Martin and Ferrari.

Jaguar F-Type: Comparable to the Aston Martin Vantage?

Should we be thinking of the new Jaguar F-Type as a bargain alternative to an Aston Martin V8 & V12 Vantage rather than a pricey Porsche Cayman? With a starting point of £58.5k for the F-Type with the 340PS V6 Supercharged engine, rising to £80k for the F-Type V8 S, we thought prices were strong. But actually, after a week of cogitation and argument at Cars UK Towers, we wonder if they’re actually something of a bargain?

Japanese Grand Prix 2012: Vettel on pole for Red Bull

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position in tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, ahead of team mate Mark Webber. It looks like Red Bull have found form again ahead of tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel taking pole position and Mark Webber in second place. Behind the Red Bulls is Jenson Button in the McLaren, although he’ll actually start five places back after a penalty for changing a gearbox after Singapore – probably wise after Hamilton retired in Singapore after his gearbox gave up the ghost.

Autoweek in review: Subaru WRX coupe caught testing, we drive the 2013 Volkswagen Golf, and ride shotgun in the Porsche 918

The 2014 Subaru WRX coupe was caught out on the open road on Oct. 4. Could it be a possible BRZ-based STI?

Range Rover Evoque gets price drop for 2013

Land Rover has sold more than 6,000 Range Rover Evoque SUVs so far this year, making it the company's second-best seller behind the Range Rover Sport. To keep the momentum going, Land Rover has lowered the base price for the small SUV by about $2,000 for 2013, to $41,995. That's the price for the five-door Pure model, which eliminates the laminated-glass roof in favor of aluminum.

Hooniverse explores BMW 5-series weight gain

Our friends at Hooniverse have put together an interesting and insightful perspective on the growth of the BMW 5-series from the E28 to the new F10. Despite putting on more than 1,000 pounds, the F10's performance and fuel economy is still respectable. Overall length is up, but the interior space remains largely unchanged.

Concept Car of the Week: Nissan ARC-X (1987)

In the mid to late 1980s Japan's car industry was booming and with it its confidence. No longer satisfied with producing brilliantly engineered but worthy cars, Japanese manufacturers had ambitions of taking on the Europeans in the luxury market. Nissan made its intentions clear at the 1987 Tokyo motor show with the ARC-X concept.

Electric Kia Soul planned for 2014

Kia has revealed that they will offer a battery electric version of the next generation Kia Soul when it arrives in 2014. Hyundai may have seen the light and decided the future for cars lies with hydrogen fuel cell cars and not battery electric cars, but sister company Kia thinks differently. It seems an odd polarity for the Korean siblings to take different routes to the future of powertrains for cars, but perhaps it’s just a case of hedging bets rather than an inability by Kia to see how impractical the BEV is as a replacement for a normal ICE car?

Bentley Continental GT3 Road Car? Probably not

Despite reports to the contrary, it seems highly unlikely that Bentley will produce a road going version of the Continental GT3. The Continental GT3 is just a concept at the moment - although it will become a proper track car – but it has already had Autocar gazing in to its crystal ball to suggest that Bentley will be building a GT3 for the road, with a 700bhp W12 and 4WD, and will sell it in limited numbers. But that doesn’t add up to us.

2013 Kia Sorento: UK Price & Spec

The 2013 Kia Sorento – Kia’s take on the Hyundai Santa Fe – arrives in UK showrooms this month priced from £26,495. Kia’s new Sorento is basically the same convincing package as the new Santa Fe, just wrapped up in a Kia instead of a Hyundai. That means new underpinnings and a more appealing shape with a tweaked and fettled 2.2 litre CRD under the bonnet attached to either a six-speed manual or 6-speed auto.

Fancy driving Hyundai’s Hydrogen ix35 Fuel Cell?

As part of the European Hydrogen Road Tour, Hyundai are offering members of the public the chance to drive the ix35 FCEV. As we revealed back in August, the Hyundai ix35 FCEV – Hyundai’s hydrogen-powered electric ix35 – is going in to production before the end of 2012, the first proper production fuel cell vehicle…in the world. The initial production run is small – just 1,000 cars – but Hyundai are planning to put the ix35 FCEV in to full production by 2015, by which time they’re hoping there will be a viable hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in place.

Caterham Superlight R600 (2012) first official pictures

There's never been a forced induction-endowed production Caterham Seven until now, but supercharging is announcing its arrival in the lightweight special in a big way: the new Superlight R600 is the fastest Seven racing car the company has ever built. Competing in the Superlight R600 Championship from 2013, the racer is the most extreme machine yet from Caterham to take to the circuit, but CAR hears there'll be a road legal version along soon for hardcore track day fans. What's the spec of the Caterham R600 Superlight?

2013 SEAT Toledo price from £12,495

The new SEAT Toledo – sister car to the new Skoda Rapid – will cost from £12,495 when it arrives in the UK in early 2013. When SEAT told us about the new Toledo in June they said it would arrive first in the Iberian peninsula (which makes sense) at the end of 2012 before rolling out in Mexico, Turkey and Germany. But no mention of the UK.

2013 Land Rover Discovery 4 gets tweaks & Black Design Pack

Land Rover has revealed the 2013 Discovery 4 with a few tweaks, more colours and Black design Pack & Extended Leather Pack. You can now have your Discovery 4 in five new colours -  Havana, Barolo Black, Barossa, Mariana Black and Causeway Grey – and the HSE gets a nice set of shiny 19″ 7-spoke alloys for a bit more bling. Inside the 2013 Discovery gets some new choices too with Arabica seats with Nutmeg stitching and Ivory seats with Ivory stitching on offer and a new Grand Ivory Lacquer and new gloss black finishers for the switches with Cosmic Grey and option.

Toyota Auris Hybrid & Yaris Hybrid sales up. Prius sales down.

Toyota is reporting strong sales for September, with the Auris Hybrid and Yaris Hybrid performing well. But Prius sales are down. Toyota are reporting strong sales for September – with the launch of the new 62 plate – with an 18.6 per cent jump in sales for a market share of 4.41 percent.