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Land Rover confirms end of Defender production

It's been all but a foregone conclusion for some time now, but Land Rover has confirmed to our sister publication Automotive News Europe that the aging Defender won't live to see 2020. Originally conceived as an agricultural machine, the first Land Rover prototype used scavenged Willys Jeep bits left over from World War II. American kids of a certain age may have been captivated by the Land Rover's mystique while watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom back in the '70s.

Rinspeed iChange concept (2009): first pics and video

By Alex Michaelides First Official Pictures 16 February 2009 13:00 The boffins at Swiss automotive madhouse Rinspeed – the people behind the Lotus Elise-based sQuba submarine – have announced their latest exercise in Geneva motor show lunacy: the iChange, a concept car that changes shape to accommodate different numbers of passengers. Unlike its aquatic stablemate, the new Rinspeed iChange is strictly meant for dry land, but it does continue the company’s trend of battery-powered exotica, using three lithium-ion power packs. The iChange has radical bodywork that changes the car’s format.

CAP call on Renault to include battery in Zoe price – when it would cost £25k

CAP has called on Renault to include the battery cost in the list price of the Renault Zoe EV, otherwise it won’t be able to set residual values. We reported recently on the price of the Renault Zoe EV – which starts at £18k – and were surprised to find that Renault weren’t including battery costs in the purchase price but charging and extra £70-93 a month for leasing them. That leads to a completely misleading headline price for the Zoe and, as used car price experts CAP say, is akin to Ford removing the engine costs from their cars to reduce list price.