4-new Bridgestone Turanza El42 Run-flat 205/55-16 Tires on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars amped up with £500 million boost

THE GOVERNMENT is to extend the £5,000 grant scheme open to anyone who buys a car with plug-in electric power. It is part of a £500 million move to encourage car owners – and city authorities – to take up the electric car baton and run with it. The initiative will give cities a chance to win government funding to further the sales of electric cars in their areas, for example by allowing them to use bus lanes or park for free.

Dodge Journey to become Fiat Freemont

Dodge Journey is getting rebadged as the Fiat Freemont for Europe You might as well get used to this. Cross-pollination and re-badging between Chrysler and Fiat is going to move on apace in 2011 and this is just the start, with the recently re-fettled Dodge Journey being tweaked and re-badged for Europe as the Fiat Freemont. Sergio Marchionne sees the Journey doing much better in Europe badged as a Fiat, and he’s probably right.

New Infiniti Q50 starts at £27,950 for the Q50 2.2d

Infiniti are pinning the new Q50′s sporting credibility on Sebastian Vettel (pictured) Infiniti are hanging their future sales on a name change that sounds like a James Bond reference – with all Infiniti models now getting the ‘Q’ prefix – and Sebastian Vettel’s input and endorsement of the brand – he’s Infiniti’s Director of Performance (well, there’s a price to pay for Infiniti’s Red Bull sponsorship). The first outing for Infiniti ‘Q’ in the UK is the new Infiniti Q50, which gets a four cylinder 2.2 litre turbo diesel as its entry-level, and it looks quite promising with 168bhp and 295lb/ft of torque and emissions of 115g/km, which should mean official economy around 65mpg. Standard features on the Q50 2.2d include Infiniti inTouch (so you can Tweet and Like on the go), Infiniti Drive Mode Selector, Stop-Start, rear view camera, Climate, 17″ alloys, Voice and Bluetooth.