Dodge Viper Srt-10 (a) on 2040-parts.com

Volvo PCP Performance Division planned on the back of rising sales

The Volvo C30 PCP by Polestar - 400bhp and £50k You’re not a serious player in the desirable saloon car stakes unless you have a performance division. BMW has the M Division and Mercedes has AMG; even VW has swapped out its Volkswagen Individual in to a division just to fettle ‘R’ cars and sell associated paraphernalia - Volkswagen R GmbH. And now it seems it’s the turn of Volvo.

2013 Ford Escape can tow 3,500 pounds with EcoBoost engine

The 2013 Ford Escape, which we saw at the Detroit auto show in January, will have a towing capacity of 3,500 pounds when equipped with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine, Ford said on Wednesday. That number easily bests four-cylinder-equipped competitors such as the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Kia Sportage and the Acura RDX. Ford says the new engine will make enough power to pull two jet skis down to the lake with a trailer, or to drag a snowmobile to the frozen tundra.

Video: Fiat creates café racer 500 for SEMA

Fiat is preparing a café racer-style 500 for this week's SEMA show by stripping down an Abarth version to take it "down to the essence of what you need to drive a car." The café racer philosophy of ‘more speed, less comfort' was born around the 1960s British 'biker scene and while initially focussed on increasing performance, quickly developed into a culture as concered with 'the show' as 'the go'. "It takes something like this to really get noticed at SEMA," says Craig Buoncompago, Project Manager at Fiat Product Design. "The Café Racer is really going to be one special car that you guys should really come and see." The 500's roof has been chopped, while also shorn of its door handles and being fitted with hot rod billet rims.