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What VW should do next

By Georg Kacher Motor Industry 23 November 2006 09:59 A new boss takes the reins of VW in January, and Martin Winterkorn has some big decisions to make about VW's plans. VW's future model policy lacks variety. But it's been like that for years, with the people's car maker slow to pick up on booming niches like mid-size MPVs and SUVs, or folding tin-top cabrios.

Skoda drives along Popular memory lane

A EUROPEAN car enthusiast is recreating a remarkable British journey first completed 90 years ago by a famous Czech writer, and is driving a 77-year-old Skoda Popular. The milestone car, Skoda's first to sell in big numbers across Europe, is well into a three-week journey around the UK in the hands of car nut Zdeněk Vacek, starting and finishing at the Czech Embassy in London and visiting many of the cities featured in famous Czech writer Karel Čapek's 1924 tome Letters from England. The Popular itself can celebrate its 80th birthday at the same time, having first appeared to widespread acclaim in 1934.

Infiniti Emerg-E was a Lotus Evora 414E under the skin

Infiniti Emerg-E - it's a Lotus Evora under the skin The Infiniti Emerg-E from the Geneva Motor Show was actually a Lotus Evora 414E under the skin making production more likely. One of the stars of the Geneva Motor Show in March was the stunningly good looking Infiniti Emerg-E, a range-extender sports car from Nissan’s posh arm offering 402bhp from a pair of electric motors and a range-extending 1.2 litre 3-cylinder engine. We knew at Geneva that the 3-cylinder range-extender engine came from Lotus – no surprise as they’ve also supplied the same engine to Jaguar for testing in the XJ Limo Green Hybrid – but what we didn’t know (although we should have worked it out) was that under the skin the Infiniti Emerg-E was actually a Lotus Evora.