Porsche / Vw / Mercedes Flasher Relay Hella Tbb53 4db002895-01 (w4) on 2040-parts.com

Alfa MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 – paint job by Louise Dear

Alfa Romeo Art Car by Louise Childs Alfa Romeo are pushing quite a few PR buttons with the congestion charge busting Alfa MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 85bhp, the latest of which is the ‘Art Car’ in the photo above. Recently, we had Alfa pitting the MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 85bhp in a race around London against an athlete. On the face of it that race was to promote UK Athletics (sponsored by Alfa Romeo) but a big part, and the reason for the ‘London’ angle, is that the latest MiTo emits just 95g/km – the perfect London car.

VW Polo R confirmed for 2013

VW Polo WRC makes the case for the 4WD VW Polo R We speculated a year ago that the Polo GTI wouldn’t be the top of the Polo tree, and that Volkswagon would roll out the VW Polo R in 2012, but perhaps with FWD instead of the 4WD its big brother, the Golf R, enjoys. But just a few months later it seemed clear that we would end up getting a 4WD Polo R at some point after Audi lost its bottle at the last minute and pulled the Audi S1 badge off a FWD A1, instead calling it the Audi A1 1.4 TFSI. That change of heart by Audi – saving the S1 badge for a quattro S1 – meant that a quattro platform would be developed for the S1, and as the A1 uses the Polo platform it meant a 4WD platform would be available for the Polo too.

Subaru XV crossover teased with photo ahead of Frankfurt

Subaru XV tease photo We understand the tease, we really do. The ability for car makers to get reams of online coverage for every snippet of information they deign to impart ahead of a car launch is powerful. Which is why we have a photo tease for the Subaru XV Crossover ahead of Frankfurt.