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

Electric cars get a £500 million government cash boost – but will it get spent?

The new BMW i3 EV (pictured) will be subsidised until 2017. The subsidy of up to £5000 paid to buyers of electric cars has been with us for three years, but it hasn’t had much impact on EV sales and it did look like the government had decided to scrap it all together. But it looks like the coalition has allowed Nick Clegg to have his way with EV subsides in a move that will see £500 million injected in to promoting and supporting electric cars in the UK in the next few years.

Vauxhall Insignia facelift revealed for 2014

The Vauxhall Insignia gets a facelift for 2014 with new engines and lower prices The Vauxhall Insignia is a more than decent car – and a big improvement on the Vectra that went before – but it’s now almost five years old so it’s time for a bit of a facelift. Vauxhall has revealed the updated Insignia for 2014 that gets a decent raft of changes, both cosmetically and under the skin, to make it better to live with and more economical. Sensibly, Vauxhall has cut the bewildering range of Insignia trim levels from 14 to eight (do they need even that many?), with Design Trim at the bottom and Elite trim at the top, and the new Insignia Design starting at £16,279 – £3500 less than the old Insignia ES.

Frankfurt 2011: New Vauxhall Astra GTC (2012) debut

Vauxhall Astra GTC finally arrives at Frankfurt The Vauxhall Astra GTC (and its European equivalent Opel GTC) finally gets to go on public view at Frankfurt this week, a year after it arrived as a concept at Paris. Based on the more prosaic five-door Astra, the GTC carries over just about nothing except the door handles although it still conspires to look like a slightly squashed, butch version of its sibling. The Astra GTC is a decent looking effort from Vauxhall – as is the regular Astra – designed to take the fight to cars like the Scirroco.