03 Honda Cbr 600rr Rear Seat 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).

Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro (2011) first pictures

This is the new Audi Q5 Hybrid Quattro. It’s Audi’s first hybrid road car, and combines a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine, an electric motor and lithium-ion batteries in a Q5 SUV body. Unfortunately this system isn’t Audi’s much-anticipated electric Quattro system, with a combustion engine driving the front wheels and an electric-powered rear axle – the Q5 Hybrid has permanent four-wheel drive.

Going, going, gone: Ford sells Volvo to Geely

Little more than a year ago, the name Geely would happily slip under the radar of most. Today, the Chinese company completed its purchase of Volvo from Ford. Geely stumped up a $1.3 billion in cash for the Swedish brand and issued a $200m note.