Alternator Bracket 2202510 D2787 on 2040-parts.com

Nissan Leaf wins Car of the Year in Japan

The Nissan Leaf electric car has won Japan's Car of the Year award. It's the first time in the award's history that the honor has gone to an electric car. The Leaf was praised for its high-performance electric motor, quietness, ride comfort and handling stability.

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.

Hyundai ix20 and facelifted i10 (2010) first photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 14 September 2010 14:48 After the design sketches, now it's the real McCoy: the new Hyundai ix20 mini-MPV.No surprises for guessing it's the Hyundai equivalent of the Kia Venga. Engineered and designed in Europe, the ix20 is the second car – after the bigger ix35 crossover – to adopt the family's new 'fluidic sculpture' design look.The ix20 will be on UK sale from November 2010. No word yet on the powertrains on offer, but we'd expect similar 1.1 and 1.4 petrols and 1.4 diesel as the similarly engineered Venga.Anything else at Paris 2010?