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GM and Koenigsegg agree Saab sale

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 16 June 2009 11:00 American car giant General Motors has signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of Saab by an investment group led by Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg. That's the deal. Supercar maker Koenigsegg Automotive, together with a consortium of private investors, has formed Koenigsegg Group, which has reached a ‘tentative agreement’ to buy Saab from GM.

Caterham creates next car online

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 05 November 2008 10:08 Caterham has turned to cyberspace to design its next model – the low-volume carmaker is calling on fans around the world to log onto a bespoke website to submit their ideas and designs for every aspect of the new Caterham, before ultimately voting on what makes it to the final vehicle. The website – www.splitwheel.com - will act as a forum, hosting blogs, articles and what Caterham calls ‘a Wikipedia-style user-edited knowledge base’ to turn user input into a workable vehicle design. A comprehensive voting system that covers all aspects of the car will then be initiated, and once the final specification is agreed a prototype will be produced with initial production slated for 2011.

Lexus IS 300h promises unrivalled ownership costs

The new Lexus IS - launched at Detroit in January and costing from £26,495 for the IS 250 in the UK – actually offers ownership costs that eclipse diesel offerings from the likes of Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, say Lexus. Despite the logical assumption that the complex hybrid powerplant in the IS 300h would cost more to maintain, Lexus say the opposite is true. Because it has no clutch and the starter motor and alternator are integrated they require no servicing or replacement and Lexus has fitted a timing chain instead of a timing belt, so it won’t need regular replacement either.