CES: New cars and communists

The first day of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show featured one new Ford, two new Kias and a plug for communism from the head of Mercedes-Benz. So, yeah, it was an eventful first day. After its new 2013 Fusion plug-in hybrid was named Car of the Show--following previous such distinctions for the Focus electric and the Taurus--Ford CEO Alan Mulally pulled the cover off the Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Caterham RST-V8 Levante (2008): first official pictures

By Mark Nichol First Official Pictures 26 February 2008 12:51 This is the Caterham RST-V8 Levante, an example of what happens when a chirpy British sports car turns over to the dark side. The Levante is the work of RS Performance, which has taken an SV chassis, stuffed a 2.4-litre supercharged V8 into the front and coated the lot in swathes of carbon fibre. The result is 550bhp in a chassis weighing little over 500kg.

Vauxhall: Ellesmere Port plant saved – 700 new jobs created

Vauxhall Ellesmere Port - Saved General Motors is to keep Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port open, move to three shift working and create 700 new jobs. The overcapacity of mainstream car manufacture in Europe as the market becomes ever more polarised between premium and budget cars – squeezing the middle – means car maker having to rationalise their output. Many thought that could mean the end of Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port as GM sought to stem its European losses (around £2 billion in the last three years), especially as it is easier to close plants and lay off workers in the UK than in mainland Europe.