1955 Ford Thunderbird T-bird Rear View Mirror on 2040-parts.com

Microsoft demos Apple CarPlay rival

The battle between Microsoft and Apple is being fought on the desktop, on the smartphone and now in the car. At its Build 2014 developer conference, held earlier this month in San Francisco, Microsoft demoed an early version of Windows In The Car, its response to Apple's CarPlay system we saw at the Geneva Show back in March. As you'd expect, In The Car's design follows the look of Microsoft's latest Windows and Window Phone operating system pretty closely.

Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo sedan and wagon debut at Frankfurt motor show

Leave it to BMW's most pinstripe-stickered tuner to come up with a car just for automotive journalists. That's right: Alpina has built a diesel BMW 3-series sedan and wagon duo and has taken them to the Frankfurt motor show to taunt scribes whose countries will probably not be getting them, and that likely includes the U.S. Even though the D3 Bi-Turbo is diesel powered, fuel economy was not the first thing on Alpina's mind.

Nissan NV200: Nissan’s take on the London Taxi

Nissan is taking on the Black Cab market with the Nissan NV200 London Taxi, expected to go on sale in 2014 from around £30k. It may not be the biggest market in the car world, but the profile of the London Taxi makes it a worthwhile target for car makers. Mercedes recently took on the traditional Black Cab with their Vito-based taxi and did a very good job – but at a price; the Mercedes Vito Cab costs around £42k, almost £10k more than the traditional London Taxi.