Arp S/s Bolt Kit - 12pt. (5) 7/16-24 X 1.500 614-1500 on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.

Peugeot 208 GTi Concept (2012) first official pictures

This is the Peugeot GTi Concept, and it's a near-200bhp hot hatch that Peugeot will unveil at the Geneva motor show in March 2012. Unveiled alongside it will be the Peugeot 208 XY Concept.  The Peugeot 208 GTi Concept is technically still a concept, but the hottest Peugeot 208 already runs a THP 156 engine, so the mule our spies spotted cold weather testing is thought to be an early prototype for a production version of the GTi.

Euro NCAP gets tough on whiplash

[ad#ad-1] As we reported a few days ago, the Renault Megane succeeded in achieving the joint highest ever score in the Euro NCAP tests. But as we noted then, this was the last bunch of NCAP tests under the existing regulations, and all changes from the New Year. As an introduction to the new tests, NCAP has just released test figures for whiplash testing on a group of 25 cars recently tested, and the results are rather enlightening.