1967 Chevrolet Station Wagon Lh Tail Light Lens Nos 5958895 on 2040-parts.com

Nissan LEAF EV: 15,000 sold worldwide, but UK hasn’t fallen for electric cars

Nissan LEAF EV - 15k sold worldwide, but just a handful in the UK As electric cars go, the Nissan LEAF is one of the best. It looks like a proper car – even if it’s not exactly drop dead gorgeous – it has the accoutrements of a real car and you can pile in your shopping and the kids just as you could in any other family sized hatch. But from our perspective the LEAF is an orange trying to be a banana.

Peugeot puts RCZ designer on Twitter

Like many automakers, Peugeot is now making conspicuous use of social media platforms as a component in its new car launch campaigns and in order to manage customer relations online. For its new RCZ coupe, Peugeot in the UK has been running a social media campaign under the strap line "It chooses you", with associated Twitter and Facebook accounts – which culminated with a member of the public winning an RCZ last week. For auto designers, there was little interest in the campaign up until last week, when Peugeot put RCZ designer Boris Reinmöller behind a computer terminal and opened him up to a public Q+A session through its Twitter account.

Maserati Levante SUV – 525bhp & Made in Italy

The Maserati Levante – the production version of the Kubang Concept SUV – is based on the new Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was planned to be built in the US alongside the Jeep, but demand for the new Grand Cherokee means Maserati will be building the Levante in Italy instead. Which will probably do its credentials no harm at all. Nor will its engine offerings, which will include the new 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6 from the Ghibli with around 400bhp, the new diesel engine from the Ghibli (and perhaps Fiat’s new V8 diesel when that arrives) and the thumping twin-turbo V8 from the Quattroporte with a round 525bhp.