Fernandes confirms Team Lotus-Caterham deal

Tony Fernandes has officially confirmed that Team Lotus Enterprises has taken over tiny British sports-car maker Caterham Cars. Named after the London suburb where it was founded, Caterham bought the rights to the Lotus Seven design in 1973 and has been exploiting it ever since with increasingly sophisticated models that stay true to the original concept. The company is now based in Dartford, close to the Brands Hatch race circuit.

New Range Rover Hybrid targeted at Europe: Frankfurt 2013

The new Range Rover Hybrid (pictured) has diesel power to target Europe It’s not the biggest news at Frankfurt, but the arrival of the Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid is big news for Land Rover, and for buyers running cars who are subject to taxation on benefits. Surprisingly, Land Rover has gone the diesel route with the hybrid, coupling the 3.0 litre diesel engine to a 46bhp electric motor which, when working together, offers the same sort of performance as the V8 diesel engine but with much better economy and emissions – 44mpg and 169g/km. Logic would perhaps have dictated that the new hybrid should have a petrol engine, rather than a diesel, as the biggest hybrid markets in the world – the US and China – have no real appetite for diesel engines.

500-mph Ford hovercar is the future we were promised

"Within a few decades, the urge to travel at high speed has led man to develop the locomotive, the automobile, the airplane, and the rocket. Today he can travel through the air at speeds in excess of sound, and it is likely that he will soon land on the moon." Yes, we eventually made it to the moon, 10 years after the Ford Motor Co. issued this bold proclamation.