Ford announces electric car plans at the Detroit auto show

Not to be left out of the electric car party, Ford announced Sunday at the Detroit Auto Show that it was developing a line of electric powered vehicles. In addition to its already announced hybrids and plug-in hybrids, Ford is working with Magna International to bring fully electric cars to market with lithium-ion battery packs. In the works is a Focus and Fusion-based vehicles that will be available in with all three powertrains.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.

Quarter of UK cars' brakes 'could fail without warning'

MORE THAN a third of all cars in Europe have brakes that could fail without warning, according to a new report. Research carried out for Cosan Lubricants’ Mobil Car Care range, at independent service garages across the UK found that 26.5% of UK motorists had defective brake fluid, with nearly one in 10 unintentionally risking their lives every time they drove. The research tested the quality of brake fluid – the liquid that allows the modern braking system to work.