02 Outback Impreza Fuel Filler Neck on 2040-parts.com

Tech powers of the new Discovery

By Phil McNamara First Official Pictures 16 April 2014 17:37 SUVs that can be driven remotely like a Tamiya toy car, with cockpit functions controlled via gestures or freeform speech, and glass that relays images from external cameras to provide genuine 360-degree vision – Land Rover has given a glimpse inside its R&D lab to reveal exciting technology under development. Think it's all pie in the sky stuff, decades from production? There's a remote control, current-shape Discovery out there testing right now, which can be driven from the outside using a touchscreen tablet.

New smart fortwo electric drive enters production

Mercedes has announced that the third generation 2012 smart fortwo electric drive has gone in to production. Mercedes may, very sensibly, be pursuing hydrogen fuel cells as the real future of motoring but they still have an eye on electric cars as urban runarounds. That urban EV takes shape as the Smart EV, and the third generation smart fortwo ED (electric drive) debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March and has now gone in to production.

Saab's new 9-3 due in 2012 to set new Saab template

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 04 June 2010 10:13 Now the new 9-5 is launched, attention is turning to the next generation of Saabs. Speaking at the 9-5 launch in Trollhättan, Saab bosses told CAR that the new 9-3 would be the first model to bear the true hallmarks of the new independent Saab since the Detroit divorce.GM sold Saab to Dutch entrepreneur Victor Muller's Spyker group in February 2010 for $78 million and an equity swap – meaning that the 9-5 was done and dusted by the time Saab had become independent. Next year's new 9-4X crossover, paired with and built alongside GM's Cadillac SRX and due in April 2011, is also largely finished.