Nissan recruits Champions League football stars

NISSAN has gone football mad ahead of the new European season, recruiting as brand ambassadors two of the finest talents to grace the 2014-15 Champions League. The Japanese firm is sponsoring the competition this year, and has secured the services of Brazil's captain of Paris Saint-Germain Thiago Silva and the Barcelona and Spain midfielder Andrés Iniesta, who himself has won three Champions League titles. Dubbed Nissan's new 'Engineers of Excitement', the firm says in a press release that the players “will help the Japanese car manufacturer in its campaign to introduce new innovations to enhance the football fan experience.” They will feature in a series of TV adverts focusing on how innovation is key, both on and off the field, to creating excitement for football fans and drivers.

Drayson Racing and Michelin compete for EV record

Drayson Racing Technologies and Michelin are joining forces to make a run at the FIA World Electric Land Speed Record on Tuesday with the Drayson B12 69/EV prototype. In addition to a record attempt this will be a real-world test for the car, which will also compete in the 2014 FIA Formula E Championship. The car was originally powered by a 5.5-liter biofuel Judd engine, but it has now been converted to full electric drive.

New VW Beetle gets new engines

Volkswagen has finally made the new VW Beetle available with the 2.0 litre TSI petrol and 2.0 litre turbodiesel engines. When we reported the other day that the new VW Beetle Convertible was arriving at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November we did say that VW were about to announce the arrival, finally, of the 2.0 litre TSI petrol and 2.0 litre TDI diesel for the Beetle to make it a bit more appealing. It seems VW must have been listening as they’ve now announced that you can grab a new Beetle with either the more powerful petrol or the diesel engine, which should help sales of the new Beetle.