Genuine Mopar U-bolt 6510715aa on 2040-parts.com

Dacia Logan Estate: Price from £6,995

The Dacia Logan MCV (Estate) becomes the UK’s cheapest estate car with prices from £6,995 – for the Logan MCV 1.2 Access trim – rising to £10,795. That’s £1,000 less than we’d expected when the Logan estate was revealed at Geneva last month, and cheap enough to make it the cheapest estate car on sale in the UK. True, the entry-level Logan estate in Access trim with the 1.2 litre 74bhp petrol engine, 15″ steel wheels and not a lot of toys, isn’t exactly specced up, but if you need a proper estate car – and you want it new – the Logan MCV (the MCV bit means ‘Maximum Capacity Vehicle) is a great deal.

UK electric car sales hit record high

While electric cars may not have taken off as quickly as the likes of Renault and Nissan had hoped, the latest figures from the government’s £5,000 electric car grant scheme show that sales have leapt 25% in the last quarter. A total of 1,149 electric cars were registered in Q3, not only a 25% improvement over Q2, but the most successful quarter since the government scheme began back in January 2011, indicating that consumers are starting to understand the technology and its limitations rather better. On Bing: see pictures of electric cars in the UK Find out how much an electric car costs on Auto Trader This news comes as the Renault-Nissan alliance has been forced to admit it is not going to reach its self-imposed target of 1.5 million electric car sales by 2016.

Dassault Systèmes Design Challenge finalists announced

Anne Asensio and a team of expert judges have chosen the three finalists of the Dassault Systèmes Design Challenge 2012. 23-year-old Riten Gojiya's project 'Third dimension tour' made the final list, with Josef Ludvík Böhm's 'Aktivní Robotická Ortéza' also making the cut. The judging panel was also very impressed with Jakub Novák's 'Pedalboat' entry, which was enough to secure the final spot in the top three.