Topgear News

General Motors Corp. on Wednesday became the first automaker to commit to make a rechargeable hybrid vehicle, a move intended to distance the world’s largest automaker from its harmful reputation for producing gas-guzzling trucks.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles have the potential to sharply increase fuel efficiency by using advanced batteries to power them over short distances, according to proponents.

Environmental activists have long lobbied GM and other leading automakers to develop such vehicles, which could be readily recharged when not in use, as a way to reduce oil consumption and auto emissions.

Cars will be MoT tested every two years under new plans laid out by the Government.

The £50 MoT test for cars over three years old is currently required every year, but new plans will bring the UK in line with the rest of Europe.

EU law requires a test every other year on cars over four years old.

If approved, Britain’s 22 million motorists could save £465 million a year with biennial checks.

But the move could mean dangerous cars stay on the road for longer than they normally would.

One of the “holy grails” of carbon fiber application is car wheels. How badly would auto OEMs love to lose those heavy steel wheels? The question always has been: Can a carbon fiber wheel meet all of the required performance specs at an affordable price? The short answer is, yes but not yet. Dymag Racing UK (Chippenham, U.K.) has developed a carbon fiber wheel that meets or exceeds many of the performance requirements of a car wheel, but price, for now, leaves this product in the high-performance category. The future, however, looks bright.

Subaru is ‘giving away’ almost 100 new B9 Tribecas plus Bluetooth hands-free ’phone kits – to its UK dealers.

The cars will be kept by Subaru dealers for six months and loaned for up to seven days to key potential customers.

Target prospects include business owners and professionals – especially owners of the BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg.

Harvey France, Subaru National Fleet and Used Car Sales Manager, said: “We are putting our money where our mouth is as we believe the best way of establishing Tribeca is to allow people to drive it to appreciate its outstanding chassis dynamics and refinement.”

Copying others isn’t smart - just ask Chinese firm Shandong HuoYun Electromobile. We revealed its City Spirit in issue 933, but production of the Smart ForTwo-inspired look-alike electric car has now ceased.

Following our story, Daimler-Chrysler has threatened to sue HuoYun, and output at the Shandong plant has ground to a halt while the design of the battery-powered car is changed. The revisions will ensure it looks different from the Smart.

However, although one Chinese model has been stopped in its tracks, there’s still an invasion on the way - and not all the vehicles are European copies.

By Paul Rodgers

Picture a leafy London street in 2026.

It’s 8.45am and a line of 4×4s inches up to the gates of a school. The first Chelsea tractor glides to a stop, a door swishes open, and a small child clambers down carrying an iridescent palmtop bearing a Save the Earth sticker. Admonitions to be good, eat well and have fun follow her to the pavement. “Bye bye, Mummy.” The door snicks shut and the ruling behemoth of the 21st century powers into traffic.

The best place to park in the UK is in an upmarket Birmingham shopping centre, according to a car park enthusiast.
Kevin Beresford, head of the Car Park Appreciation Society, was hired by the AA to test the best and worst places to park across the country.

Mr Beresford, of Redditch, Worcs, said Birmingham’s Mailbox complex had good lighting, good space width and trendy background music.

He said the worst space was in London’s International Press Centre (IPC).

Speaking of the Mailbox he told BBC News its general ambience was good. “It is quite a stylish building, which helps it.