Vw Air Cooled Bug Beetle Spa Turbo Kit on 2040-parts.com

Vauxhall Adam (& Opel Adam): GM’s new ‘MINI’ in Europe

It's the Vauxhall Adam - name after Adam Opel GM’s MINI rivalling new small car for Europe will be the Vauxhall Adam, an odd name to celebrate the founder of Opel. It’s been known as the Opel ‘Junior’ (and, of course, Vauxhall ‘Junior’ for the UK) as it’s been blatting round roads camouflaged with swirly paint and bolt-on panels. But now it has a name, and the name is Adam (we also got the Adam ‘writing’ out its own name on the roads of Frankfurt in a rather odd introduction to the new ‘Mini’ car – video below).

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production underway

The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries. Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60′s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90. That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.

Drop in diesel fuel prices brings sharp rise in U.S. sales

The dramatic decline in diesel fuel prices is driving up U.S. sales of diesel-powered vehicles from European carmakers. Volkswagen dealers across the country say they can't get enough of the Jetta TDI sedan or station wagon.