British Honda engineers get green light from Japan

Honda UK’s small UK vehicle engineering centre is all set to grow in size and importance following approval from Japanese bosses. The British car development base supports Honda’s main European development centre in Frankfurt but has been taking on increasing responsibility in recent years. Honda Civic Tourer prototype review (2013 onwards) Honda Civic review (2012 onwards) Success here, said a Honda spokesman, has meant Japanese management feels it can hand over more responsibility to the small Swindon centre.

Mercedes SLS AMG: The UK Video

The Mercedes SLS AMG - the UK Promo Video below   Now that things are finally starting to Rock ‘n’ Roll for the new Mercedes SLS AMG – Mercedes actually started building it in January – we’re getting some UK-specific stuff, which makes a change from Auto Bild telling the world the SLS AMG is the best looking car in existence. Mind you, it’s not bad looking. The video we have here – which is the first UK SLS AMG push we’ve seen – is nicely lit and edited (even if there is some CGI in there) and it certainly does the SLS no harm on the looks front.

Volt, Leaf win top safety rating in crash test

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf electric cars won the highest safety ratings in crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, putting them in the top 57 percent of models tested so far this year. About 80 of 140 vehicles tested among 2011-2012 models have received the Institute's "top safety pick," the group's award for state-of-the-art crash protection that exceeds federal safety rules, Institute spokesman Russ Rader said. The Volt and Leaf received a "good" rating -- the highest of four rankings -- on each of four crash tests, said the Institute, which is funded by auto insurers including State Farm, All-State and Geico.