Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron price and specs – costs £34,950

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron (pictured) costs £34,950 If governments are going to base car taxation on Co2 emissions, then car makers are going to build cars that ‘game’ the official tests. A perfect example of which is the new Audi A3 Sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid. It’s expensive at £34,950 (although the government bribe for plug-ins does drop the price you pay to £29,950), but thanks to its ‘up to 31 miles’ range on battery power only it comes complete with official economy of 176.6 mpg and emissions of 37g/km.

Rinspeed Dock + Go concept car (2012) - a more practical Smart

And over on the Rinspeed stand at the 2012 Geneva motor show, you can expect to see the new Rinspeed Dock + Go, a Smart Fortwo with a new mobility concept. It adds a bespoke trailer to the Smart city car, letting customers drive into town two-up in the regular Smart, or go on a longer journey to the seaside with all the clobber (for two, no families allowed – unless the children can be flatpacked into the boot) stuffed into the trailer. Rinspeed Dock + Go: the details Frank Rinderknecht calls the Smart trailer 'a backpack on wheels'.

IIHS gives Camry, Prius v hybrid poor safety rating

Thirteen mid-sized cars have earned high marks on the insurance industry's newest frontal-crash test, but a pair of Toyota models tested fared worse than the rest. The so-called small overlap test involves crashing the front corner of a car into a barrier at 40 mph. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety devised the test to simulate a collision with a stationary object such as a tree or a utility pole.