1987 Kawasaki Kdx200 Seat on 2040-parts.com

Nissan-designed Santa’s sleigh

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 17 December 2008 14:30 Canadian designer Martin Uhlarik penned Nissan’s sleigh, which dispenses with reindeer altogether and can be used instead in conjunction with a rather faster steed, a Nissan GT-R. It’s quickly apparent that Nissan’s SC01 sledge will have a much greater load capacity than rival designs – and we’d certainly pull over fast if we saw this in our rear-view mirrors. Uhlarik is project design leader at Nissan’s Paddington design centre in London and was senior exterior designer on the Qashqai+2 and NV200 concept.

Volvo Plug-In Hybrid by 2012

Volvo are working on a plug in Hybrid for 2012 offerng 50g/km Co2 emissions Laudable though this intent is, it’s a little like the Vauxhall / Opel Ampera – it relies on technology that doesn’t yet exist to deliver what it promises. But to get things moving, Volvo are going to be running a number of Volvo V70 diesel-electric Hybrids round Europe this year, to guage customer feedback and try to establish exactly what the consumer wants. They also want to establish exactly what the consumer can live with in terms of ‘Re-fuelling’.

Hennessey tunes Chevrolet SS to 1,000 hp

Forget the Camaro Z/28 for a minute: Hennessey is offering performance packages for the Chevrolet SS that boost the car from from a not-unreasonable 475 hp to the "there's-just-no-way" 1,000 hp. That's right, Hennessey Performance saw a gap in the market for rear-wheel drive domestic sedans with 1,000 hp on tap, and like any smart business, went for it. In fact, we don't know why this niche hasn't been filled until now.