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Volkswagen wants Karmann

VW wants to buy Karmann Just like all the other specialist coachbuilders out there – Zagato, Pininfarina, etc – life has not been a bed of roses for a long time for Karmann. Once a great way for wealthy owners to ‘Customise’ their cars, the specialist coachbuilders have relied more and more on relationships with big car makers to survive. None more so than Karmann, whose hopes for survival rested on VW divvying up an order for electric cars.

Renault Zoe EV production car at 2012 Geneva motor show

Renault had a surprise up its sleeve at the 2012 Geneva motor show – the new production version of the Zoe electric car will cost just £13,650 in the UK. That’s after the Government’s Plug-in Car grant which pays up to a quarter or £5000 of an electric car’s RRP, and makes the Zoe a more attractive proposition than other electric cars to date. Renault says the new Zoe is priced to be an equivalent to a diesel-powered supermini.

Volvo S60 saloon (2010) unveiled

This is the new Volvo S60, and it’s the latest attempt by the Swedish safety-mongers to snatch a share of the small executive saloon market that’s dominated by the 3-series, A4 and C-class. Volvo has only released two exterior photos of the new S60 – we’ll see the interior closer to the car’s Geneva motor show unveil in March 2010 – as it wants to highlight the new car’s design. Under now-departed design chief Steve Mattin, the S60 has been created as the car that will start the differentiation of Volvo design and break the one-size-fits-all focus.