06 - 11 Milan Fusion Power Heated W/ Puddle Light Mirror Rh Right Passenger Side on 2040-parts.com

India turns the screw on luxury car makers

Land Rover will still be sending CKD to India despite the rise in import duty India’s economy is growing almost exponentially, as a result of which it has a big, rising middle-class with much the same aspirations as the middle-class in the West. Those aspirations include the accumulation of status symbols considered worthy of representing their success and new wealth, none more so than a good set of wheels. So it’s no surprise that the mainstream luxury car makers – Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Audi and BMW – are ready, willing and able to provide exactly what India’s middles classes are looking for.

Rolls-Royce wants to make an electric Phantom

Rolls-Royce boss Tom Purves has revealed he wants to build an electric Phantom By Gavin Green Motoring Issues 23 October 2008 11:21 Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves would like to make an electric-powered Phantom. ‘Many of our customers do small mileages exclusively in the city,’ says Purves, who took over the helm of BMW-owned Rolls-Royce in July 2008. ‘For these customers, an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal.’Purves has just driven the new electric Mini, which debuts at next month’s Los Angeles auto show, and was ‘bowled over by it.

New-car smell less toxic but not safe, Ecology Center says

The Ecology Center released its fourth consumer guide to toxic chemicals last week, and the news is better. The amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in new cars has decreased, but we still have a ways to go. VOCs in plastics and flame retardants have been linked to a variety of acute and long-term health concerns.