2003 03 01 02 Yamaha Yz250 Yz 250 Left Stator Cover on 2040-parts.com

European Car of the Year shortlist 2010

The shortlist of entries for the 2010 European Car of the Year award were announced today. No doubt bound to cause controversy with our readers, the cars which made it onto this year’s seven-strong shortlist are: • Citroën C3 Picasso• Mercedes-Benz E-class• Opel/Vauxhall Astra• Peugeot 3008• Skoda Yeti• Toyota iQ• Volkswagen Polo Chosen by automotive journalists from all over Europe, the competition will come to a close at the end of the year when an all-out winner is announced. Vauxhall took top honours in 2009's contest, with its Insignia stealing top spot from Ford’s new Fiesta by a single point.

Jaguar Land Rover creates another 1100 jobs

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are creating a further 1,100 jobs in the Jaguar plant at Castle Bromwich to cope with anticipated demand. Last week we said we were expecting an announcement from Jaguar Land Rover about production at Castle Bromwich following a deal with Unions to secure new working practices. And this seems to be it.

Concept Car of the Week: BMW Turbo (1972)

Built by Michelotti in Turin and unveiled at the 1972 Paris motor show, the BMW Turbo was built both as a symbol of the carmaker's strength after its troubles in the ‘60s and as a celebration of that summer's Olympic Games in Munich. This two-door coupe, based on a modified 2002 chassis with a mid-mounted engine, was born when BMW's design director Paul Bracq convinced the board to let him design a concept that would be part design exercise, part technology testbed. Safety had become an increasingly important consideration following a number of design summits in the early ‘70s, and Bracq used the Turbo to test out a number of safety solutions.