1987-2006 Yamaha Banshee Complete Seat Cover Latch Foam Pan Black P-28 on 2040-parts.com

2011 World Car of the Year: Three finalists – one’s not a car

Nissan LEAF in a bubble at Geneva It looks like the WCOTY (World Car of the Year) is infected with the same set of vested interest as the European Car of the Year – they’ve voted the Nissan LEAF as one of the three finalists. By any sane measure the Nissan LEAF is not a car. It is at best a very good second mode of transport for those who don’t seek value and live in an urban area.

Jaguar Land Rover to create ANOTHER 1700 jobs

1700 new jobs created by JLR to build new smaller Jaguars like the Jaguar Crossover (pictured) We’ve reported on the creation of more and more jobs in recent years by Jaguar Land Rover as Land Rover’s products, in particular, drive forward. But Jaguar is soon to undergo a transformation as a new, smaller range of cars and crossovers join the current lineup of F-Type, XF, XJ and XK to emulate the sales success Land Rover is enjoying, particularly with the Range Rover Evoque. That means yet more new jobs at Land Rover – 1,700 at Solihull – taking the new jobs Jaguar has created in the last few years to 11,000 and an additional  £1.5 billion product creation investment.

Smart For-Us concept unveiled at 2012 Detroit show

Smart made a splash with its world debut at the 2012 Detroit auto show: its For-Us concept car provides a vision of the Smart as an American icon, a pick-up. The diminutive truck - just 3547mm long - is longer than a Fortwo, and is supposed to be based on the running gear of the next-gen Smart Forfour, aka the new Renault Twingo. So if the For-Us doesn't look so much like a Smart any more, from the front at least, that's why.