Tesla increases Roadster production

By Nick Eaton Motor Industry 11 September 2008 11:30 Tesla Motors is about to ramp up production of its Roadster, having secured supply of a new single-speed gearbox from BorgWarner. Tesla began producing the Roadster in March 2008, but all 27 cars so far delivered to customers have effectively been interim models because the original two-speed ‘box was deemed too fragile for long-term use. The original thinking was that the Roadster would require two gears to achieve the best possible acceleration, and on that point Tesla was right.

New Mercedes GL (2012/2013) arrives ahead of New York debut

New Mercedes GL (2012/2013) The refreshed Mercedes GL – the big brother to the M Class – has arrived ahead of its debut at the New York Auto Show. The new Mercedes GL wasn’t supposed to surface quite yet, but the Interwebs being what they are the first set of photos of the refreshed GL are already doing the rounds. What we get is a much less stolid GL than the current model with a new nose and a look that says ‘M Class Big Brother’, which as the GL is based on an extended M Class platform should be no surprise.

Watch the Jaguar Project 7 F-Type go up the Goodwood hillcimb

Jaguar Project 7 F-Type (pictured) tackles the Goodwood FoS hillclimb One of the surprises of the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed has been the debut of the Jaguar Project 7 car, an F-Type with the more bountiful 542bhp supercharged V8 and styling stolen from the D-Type. Jaguar are saying Project 7 isn’t heading for production, but we’re pretty sure most of what’s underneath it – principally the 542bhp version of the supercahrged V8 – is in a production F-Type R. Perhaps surprisingly, fitting the 542bhp vresion of the V8 doesn’t seem to have done a lot for the F-Type’s sprint times, with 62mph coming up in 4.1 seconds, just 0.1 seconds quicker than the 495bhp engine in the standard Jaguar F-Type V8.