Ford Oem Console Lid 8c3z2506024ea Image 11 on 2040-parts.com

Fiat 500L launches

The Fiat 500L – a larger Fiat 500 based on the Punto – has launched in Italy ahead of going on sale in the UK in early 2013. We had the official arrival of the Fiat 500L at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and now we get the 500L’s official launch in Turin – together with lots of new photos and a video – before the 500L goes on sale around the world. The 500L is actually based on the underpinnings of the Punto to create a 500 MPV and, sensibly, Fiat has done with the 500L  what MINI did with the Countryman and slapped an iconic badge on even though the 500L bears scant resemblance to its cute little sibling.

Update: Audi TT-RS – more images

We did a piece yesterday on the Audi TT-RS teaser images released by Audi ahead of the TT-RS launch at Geneva in March. But now we’ve got some more pictures, even though they are not official Audi releases (excuse the less than normal quality). It would make much more sense for car makers to stop teasing and do things properly.

Hybrid Cars are Dangerous

Hybrid cars are reckoned to be dangerous to vision-impaired pedestrians - but Lotus has a solution with 'Safe & Sound' But this is about the problems that are starting to arise when Hybrids (and EVs for that matter) are running ‘Silently’. And with sales of Hybrid cars rocketing – particularly in Japan – it is causing concern to the authorities. So the Japanese Government has set up a panel to investigate the problem, consisting of consumers, vision-impaired groups, the police and representatives from the car industry.