02 Suzuki Gsxr Gsx-r 600 Steering Damper 27e on 2040-parts.com

White Van Man numbers booming

THE ADVANCE of White Van Man is accelerating, according to figures highlighted by the RAC Foundation. Between 2002 and 2012 the number of light vans on the roads increased by 29% to 3.3 million. During the same period, the increase in cars was 11%, with one in 10 vehicles on the roads now a light commercial vehicle.

Vauxhall-designed Santa's sleigh (2009)

Vauxhall's version of Santa's sleigh – complete with Voltec plug-in hybrid tech By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 14 December 2009 20:11 Here's the Vauxhall take on the design project we've set them this Christmas: to design a Vauxhall-branded Santa's sleigh. The boffins at Vauxhall/Opel design HQ have come up with this – a development of the latest GM Europe form language with hints of new Astra here and Ampera plug-in hybrid there.Vauxhall officials claim their Christmas sleigh features specially adapted E-REV tech to ensure Santa has no range anxiety as he flies around the world on Christmas Eve. Very zeitgeisty.'Santa's pleased as punch because he doesn't need to worry about the methane emissions generated by the outgoing reindeers on his 2008 model,' said a spokesman, while munching mince pies and throwing Magna crackers on the log fire.

Volvo S90, V90 and V90 Cross Country on the way

The Volvo V70 (pictured) will become the new Volvo V90 All the talk for Volvo lately has been the new 2015 Volvo XC90, an impressive offering that really does look like it will take the fight in the ‘Premium’ SUV market to the Germans (and even to Land Rover). But the new XC90 is just the start of Volvo’s new model line-up, and the next couple of years will see more new models arriving with Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and the new range of 4-cylinder, 2.0 litre engines. What we now also know, thanks to Volvo’s Dennis Nobelius, is that the replacements for the S80, V70 and XC70 won’t use the current nomenclature but will be given new names to better reflect their upmarket aspirations (and their place in Volvo’s new line-up).