03 Honda Civic Hybrid on 2040-parts.com

New Donkervoort D8 GTO gets Audi 2.5 litre turbo with up to 400hp

New Donkervoort D8 GTO Dutch firm Donkervoort has revealed their D8 GTO with an Audi 2.5 litre 5-pot engine with up to 400hp and a 0-60mph of 3 seconds. Dutch maker of bonkers cars, Jooop Donkervoort, has unleashed his new, lightweight and totally impractical car – the Donkervoort D8 GTO – after what seems an age of development. And thanks to a close working relationship with Audi, the D8 GTO pretty much lives up to its cheeky GTO moniker.

Mercedes SLM AMG – the mid-engined baby SLS

The Mercedes SLM AMG - a baby, mid-engined SLS Ever since the Mercedes SLS launched – in truth, even before – there have been rumours of a smaller version. Just like we’ve had with the Audi R8. But it seems that unlike Audi – who will be making an Audi R4 – Mercedes and AMG have decided that another front-engined supercar – even a smaller, cheaper one – would erode the sales base for the SLS.

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.