Jeppesen Skybound Adaptor on 2040-parts.com

CDN – Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition deadline extended

The deadline for the 2012 Car Design News – Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition has been extended until midnight (00:00 GMT) Friday 11 May. Mark Adams, Vice President Opel/Vauxhall Design, announced the news in a video message to all entrants, in which he reiterated the brief – to design the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera of the year 2020. All students must submit both an exterior and interior design to be eligible to win paid internships within GM Europe, Opel/Vauxhall's parent company.

Volkswagen puts a price on the VW Polo BlueGT

The Volkswagen Polo Blue GT – a warmed over Polo – will cost from £17,400 for the 1.4-litre 138bhp 6 spd manual. The Polo Blue GT gets the 1.4 TFSI engine with 138bhp so the little Polo can row along well enough, but it also get cylinder deactivation for when you’re not blatting from traffic light to traffic light to endow the Blue GT with official average economy of 60.1mpg (or 62.7mpg if you opt for the DSG ‘box). When you’re not worried about being parsimonious with your fuel the Polo GT skips along to 62mph in 7.9 seconds and handles well enough thanks to the Polo’s already decent setup and a 15mm lower suspension.

Ford testing self-parking cars – with or without a driver (video)

Ford testing self-parking cars – with or without a driver It seems we’re heading to the point where cars can do more and more for the driver, and fully autonomous cars seem to be less than a decade away. On the way to the fully autonomous car, car makers will be offering stages on the way as the ability of cars to be self-controlling moves along, and Ford are heading in that direction with their new systems for parking and obstacle avoidance. Ford are running prototypes with Fully Assisted Parking, a system that manages to sense a space, control the steering, gearbox and brakes to park the car at the touch of a button, even if the driver isn’t actually in the car.