Chevy Left Hood Hinge 1959 60 Impala Belair Biscayne on 2040-parts.com

Nissan LEAF: Nissan to extend warranty to cover battery capacity loss

Nissan has revealed it plans to extend the warranty on the Nissan LEAF EV to warrant against battery capacity losses. We’ve asked many times why makers of electric cars seem to believe that their batteries will continue to hold the same amount of charge as they age, especially as every battery powered gadget we’ve ever owned loses its ability to hold the same charge as every month passes, and becomes pretty useless after a couple of years hard use. But we’ve never had a sensible answer.

Mini John Cooper Works GP (2012) first official pictures

Mini has unveiled the new top-dog Mini John Cooper Works GP - a limited edition, very fast, very expensive Mini hot hatch. Just 2000 Mini GP editions will be built, with first sales due for late 2012. Yes, it's a signal that current generation Mini is approaching its wind-down period ahead of the all-new, third-generation Mini models due to land from 2014.

Thomas Ingenlath: Volvo Concept C to end 'vanilla' design era [w/Video]

Volvo has promised a radical change in its future design language that will be embodied in its Concept C coupé, the first concept to be developed since head of design Thomas Ingenlath's appointment in July 2012. Our first look at the concept, which debuts at this month's Frankfurt motor show, comes from a video starring Ingenlath (see left). At first it seems to just show him sketching while he explains how some people see Volvo design as "vanilla" – nice, but not iconic or cutting-edge – but if we slow it down at around the 11-second mark, we get a preview of what we can expect.