04824 Sep A01zg Seat Belt Passenger on 2040-parts.com

30 years of Seat Ibiza, yet the design compromises sound familiar

Over four model generations and thirty years, the Seat Ibiza's design has been overseen by some influential people; Giorgetto Giugiaro, Walter de Silva and Luc Donckerwolke shaped the Ibizas of the past, while the facelift of the most-recent model is the first to receive input from current Seat design director, Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos. Volkswagen has been the majority shareholder of Seat since 1986, taking full control in 1990. In that time, despite the designers who have passed through its doors, the brand has struggled to find its position within the Group.

New Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive goes in to production

The first Mercedes B-Class ED (pictured) rolls off the production line in Rastatt With the BMW i3 grabbing headlines – and flying out of showrooms – as BMW’s first electric car, Mercedes need to play catch-up with a convincing EV of their own, and that’s the new B-Class Electric Drive – an EV version of the regular B-Class – which has now gone in to production in Germany. Built alongside regular ICE versions of the B-Class at Mercedes’ Rastatt Plant, the B-Class ED (Electric Drive) looks practically the same as its more conventionally powered siblings – although the front bumper does look a bit different – and has an electric motor good for 177 bhp and 250 lb/ft of torque, can manage a scoot to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and has a range of up to 124 miles. The range – at least the quoted range – is a chunk better than the BMW i3′s and on a par with the latest Nissan LEAF, thanks to EV technology provided by Tesla, and the wrapping of an EV drivetrain in a conventional series production car could appeal to more buyers than the ‘statement’ design of the BMW i3.

New 2015 Skoda Fabia PROPERLY revealed – debuts at 2014 Paris Motor Show

The new Skoda Fabia (pictured) has been revealed The new Skoda Fabia tease started in July and now, ahead of a reveal at the Paris Motor Show in October, Skoda has taken the wraps off the new Fabia. The new Fabia is based on the new VW Polo and grows by a substantial 90mm in width – with all the additional interior elbow room that offers – and drops by 30mm in height, both of which conspire to make the new Fabia look wider, lower and more purposeful. With influences from the Vision C Concept, the new Fabia gets a contoured bonnet and a grill edged in chrome, wide-set fogs, a heightened waistline for added length and a set of angular headlights.