Msd Digital 6 Plus 6520 on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

Vauxhall Insignia wins European Car of the Year 2009

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 17 November 2008 11:32 Vauxhall/Opel has scooped the European Car of the Year gong – by a single point. The results, announced today, were another surprise in the 44-year history of CoTY, as the Insignia pipped the Ford Fiesta and pushed the VW Golf into third place. The full results for Car of the Year 2009 are: • 1st Vauxhall Insignia, 321 points• 2nd Ford Fiesta, 320 points• 3rd VW Golf, 223 points• 4th Citroen C5, 198 points• 5th Alfa Romeo Mito, 148 points• 6th Skoda Superb, 144 points• 7th Renault Megane, 121 points The win is a lift for GM, which is struggling with cashflow problems in Detroit.

VW Scirocco GTS launches – but not in UK

There’s a new Scirocco available across Europe from this month – the VW Scirocco GTS – but it’s not coming to the UK. The GTS is more of a trim level than a stand-alone model and you can grab it with a variety of engines – 1.4 litre TSI, 2.0 litre TSI and 2.0 litre TDI – as the GTS trim just adds cosmetic tweaks to the Scirocco and nothing in the way of power or performance upgrades. Those cosmetic tweaks amount to  thumping great black stripes up the bonnet bordered by thinner red stripes (which all continues over the top and down the back of the GTS), red covers for the door mirrors, 18″ alloys, a spoiler at the back (nicked from the Scirocco R) and a more butch back bumper with diffuser.