Carl Brouhard Designs Elite Toe Peg, Black on 2040-parts.com

Renault Zoe Preview (2010): the electric supermini

This is the new Renault Zoe concept car, a ‘90% ready’ preview of an electric supermini that will go on sale from 2012. It’s just been unveiled at the 2010 Paris motor show. It did, but it also admitted that that car was very much a flight of fancy with its enormous butterfly doors.

2013 facelift for the Mercedes E Class & Estate revealed

The 2013 Mercedes E Class and E Class Estate get a facelift with updates to the styling and engines and higher levels of equipment. The restyling of the 2013 E-Class is surprisingly comprehensive for what amounts to a mid-life facelift, with new single headlights replacing the old split lights, new grill – with the choice of a traditional grill or a sporty version (think SLC grill) – new bumpers, new bonnet, smoother haunches and a crease line down the side all the way to the new LED tail lights. Inside, the new E Class gets two part trim the extends right across the dash in either wood (if you’re old) or aluminium (if you’re not), new analogue clock in the middle between the air vents, new instrument cluster, new air vents, new centre console  and new steering wheel with a Direct Select lever and flappy paddles.

General Motors fires back at Volkswagen

General Motors issued a terse response this week to published comments by Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, who suggested to the German press that Opel could be sold to a Chinese competitor. Detroit-based GM called Winterkorn's comments “regrettable” and accused him of “fanning speculation.” Opel was nearly sold to Magna and Russian investors in the wake of GM's 2009 bankruptcy. But then-CEO Ed Whitacre and the corporate board reversed that decision, igniting controversy from German political and labor leaders who have long chafed under American oversight.