Cardone 30-1801 Distributor- Reman. A-1 (electronic) on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar Land Rover open new engineering test centre in Dubai

Jaguar Land Rover are growing at a tremendous rate, and that means more and more testing of cars to make sure they can cope with the extremes of climate they’re subjected to by owners around the world. So as part of their growing test programme, JLR have extended their testing and engineering facilities in the Al Barsha area of Dubai so they can test durability, calibration and hot weather testing for heat and humidity as well as test the powertrains, chassis, HVAC and, as this is Dubai and it has plenty of sand, they can also give the Land Rover Terrain Response systems a proper workout. JLR has been hot weather testing in Dubai for more than 12 years – an area where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius – and the new facility replaces a much smaller one in the same area, and joins Jaguar Land Rover’s other test facilities at the Nurburgring, Arjeplog in Sweden and Phoenix and International Falls in the States to ensure all JLR’s new cars get subjected to everything from extreme hot and cold to track work.

UK electric car sales hit record high

While electric cars may not have taken off as quickly as the likes of Renault and Nissan had hoped, the latest figures from the government’s £5,000 electric car grant scheme show that sales have leapt 25% in the last quarter. A total of 1,149 electric cars were registered in Q3, not only a 25% improvement over Q2, but the most successful quarter since the government scheme began back in January 2011, indicating that consumers are starting to understand the technology and its limitations rather better. On Bing: see pictures of electric cars in the UK Find out how much an electric car costs on Auto Trader This news comes as the Renault-Nissan alliance has been forced to admit it is not going to reach its self-imposed target of 1.5 million electric car sales by 2016.

Hyundai HB20 & HB20X debut in Brazil

Hyundai has debuted the HB20 hatchback and HB20X Crossover at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil. The Hyundai HB20 – which shares its basic underpinnings with Europe’s i20 – has, say Hyundai, been developed exclusively for the Brazilian market and comes in a choice of nine trim levels and with a choice of a 1.0 litre and 1.6 litre flex fuel engines with a five-speed manual, or an auto option on the 1.6 litre. Changes to the Brazilian HB20 (HB stands for ‘Hyundai Brazil’) include specific setup for Brazilian roads (which can be even worse than ours), cosmetic tweaks to the exterior and a different interior.