61-62 Starfire 60-65 Cadillac V8 3-row Aluminum Racing Radiator+x2 10" Red Fan 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.

Volkswagen e-Golf goes on sale – price from £30,845

The Volkswagen e-Golf (pictured) is now on sale in the UK The Nissan LEAF has almost had the market place for proper family EVs to itself until recently, but the arrival of the impressive BMW i3 -especially when specced with a range extending motor – threatens to make a dent in LEAF sales, and another dent could come courtesy of the new Volkswagen e-Golf, which goes on sale today in the UK priced from £30,845 (£25,845 after taxpayer bribe). In most of the ways that matters, the e-Golf is a regular Golf MK 7, but lurking under the familiar exterior lies a thumping great bank of batteries weighing 318kg (about the same as a car full of passengers) and an electric motor driving the front wheels and good for 113bhp. Range for the e-Golf is up to 118 miles from a full charge, a charge that will take 13 hours from a regular 3-pin socket, a more acceptable 8 hours if you use the optional 3.6 kW wallbox you can spec (for free from British Gas) and a quick charge of up to 80 per cent in 35 minutes.

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid gets Polestar upgrade

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid gets Polestar upgrade The Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid is proving a big sales success for Volvo – and no wonder. The V60 Plug-in Hybrid takes the already very good Volvo V60 and plants a hybrid plug-in under the skin which offers Volvo’s 215bhp 5-cylinder diesel engine – which drives the front wheels – mated to a 70bhp electric motor at the back, making the V60 Plug-in a 4WD Estate with a decent turn of performance, a range of up to 621 miles and a BIK-busting 49g/k emissions. Not only that, but you can now have the V60 Plug-in with Volvo’s R-Design spec offering the usual Volvo ‘go faster’ updates which make the V60 look more purposeful without looking silly.