Highboy Roadster Pickup on 2040-parts.com

Ross Roberts: 1938-2014

Ross Roberts, a former Ford Division general manager who helped turn trucks into everyday vehicles--not to mention a really good guy with a large personality and bigger laugh--died Jan. 28. He was 75.

Top Gear: Rowan Atkinson, Jaguar XKR-S & Caravan Trains

Rowan Atkinson is on Top Gear - without his McLaren F1 (above) This weekend’s edition of Top Gear is the usual mix of daftness and octane, but the big news – after making overtures since the start of new Top Gear to make it happen – is the appearance of Rowan Atkinson as a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. Rowan is not just a major petrolhead, but majorly publicity shy. Which you would think is an oxymoron for a professional entertainer, but it seems Rowan is much more comfortable occupying the skin of a character he’s created than his own, particularly in public.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.