Koso Mini Tachometer on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen e-Golf goes on sale – price from £30,845

The Volkswagen e-Golf (pictured) is now on sale in the UK The Nissan LEAF has almost had the market place for proper family EVs to itself until recently, but the arrival of the impressive BMW i3 -especially when specced with a range extending motor – threatens to make a dent in LEAF sales, and another dent could come courtesy of the new Volkswagen e-Golf, which goes on sale today in the UK priced from £30,845 (£25,845 after taxpayer bribe). In most of the ways that matters, the e-Golf is a regular Golf MK 7, but lurking under the familiar exterior lies a thumping great bank of batteries weighing 318kg (about the same as a car full of passengers) and an electric motor driving the front wheels and good for 113bhp. Range for the e-Golf is up to 118 miles from a full charge, a charge that will take 13 hours from a regular 3-pin socket, a more acceptable 8 hours if you use the optional 3.6 kW wallbox you can spec (for free from British Gas) and a quick charge of up to 80 per cent in 35 minutes.

Jaguar Land Rover drops plans to close one of three England plants

Jaguar Land Rover said Friday it no longer plans to close one of its three auto plants in England after reaching an agreement with trade unions. The automaker, which Ford Motor Co. sold to India's Tata Motors in 2008, said it would be significantly increasing the number of models in its range and creating thousands of jobs over the next decade.

2012 Mercedes SL – the aluminium supercar

2012 Mercedes SL - it's got a lot of aluminium It’s perhaps a step too far to describe the 2012 Mercedes SL as an aluminium supercar, but there is no doubt the 2012 SL will be a super car, and that it gets made from aluminium instead of steel. And the 2012 SL 63 AMG will undoubtedly be in the supercar league. Just like Jaguar, Mercedes sees the liberal use of aluminium as a cost-effective way to make its cars both lighter and more rigid.