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Electric cars get a £500 million government cash boost – but will it get spent?

The new BMW i3 EV (pictured) will be subsidised until 2017. The subsidy of up to £5000 paid to buyers of electric cars has been with us for three years, but it hasn’t had much impact on EV sales and it did look like the government had decided to scrap it all together. But it looks like the coalition has allowed Nick Clegg to have his way with EV subsides in a move that will see £500 million injected in to promoting and supporting electric cars in the UK in the next few years.

Skoda Fabia Scout – UK Launch

  The new Skoda Fabia Scout has launched in the UK We were a little underwhelmed when the Skoda Fabia Scout was revealed, and we really haven’t changed our minds. We can’t argue that Skodas don’t offer great value for money -  and they are very well bolted together – but the Skoda Fabia Scout seems to lack the substance to substantiate its promise. Based on the Skoda Fabia this is a ‘butched-up’ version featuring a raised ride height, added chunky bits of plastic and looks like it will be a great little crossover estate.

First look: 2014 BMW M3 and M4

The BMW M3 is back, faster and more powerful than ever before -- but only as a four-door sedan. For its iconic 3-series-based performance model, BMW will dispense with a 26-year tradition of high-revving naturally aspirated engines in lieu of turbocharged six-cylinder power. Revealed here in production-car guise for the first time, the new 425-hp M3 sedan will be joined at the outset by its sister model, the M4 -- a mechanically identical but stylistically sleeker two-door coupe previewed in lightly veiled concept-car form at the Pebble Beach concours in California last August.