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

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production underway

The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries. Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60′s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90. That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.

Dacia Sandero really is cheap – from just £69 a month

Renault has boasted about how cheap their Sandero and Duster are, and with monthly payments from just £69, they right. Admittedly, you do need to stick a deposit of £1,845 down if you want to pay just £69 a month, but even if you can only rustle up £699 you can have the duster for £99 a month. At that sort of price – thanks to a deadline offering from just £5,995 – it’s about as cheap a way in to a new car as you could hope for.

Exclusive: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC spied – with new V8

First photo of a V8 Bentley Continental We had the launch of the new Bentley Continental GT – the 2011 car – back in September at the Paris Motor Show, but we’re still waiting for what will now be the 2012 Bentley Continental GTC – the drop-top Conti. We had a photo of the new GTC – complete with a slightly odd two-tone paint job – drop in last week, and we’d planned to run the story today – it’s a good filler for a Sunday. But it’s turned in to a bit more than that.