Fit Hyundai Black Leather Steering Wheel Cover Red Stitch 57012 Circle Cool on 2040-parts.com

The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Electric cars get a £500 million government cash boost – but will it get spent?

The new BMW i3 EV (pictured) will be subsidised until 2017. The subsidy of up to £5000 paid to buyers of electric cars has been with us for three years, but it hasn’t had much impact on EV sales and it did look like the government had decided to scrap it all together. But it looks like the coalition has allowed Nick Clegg to have his way with EV subsides in a move that will see £500 million injected in to promoting and supporting electric cars in the UK in the next few years.

Nissan upgrades the Versa engine to add mpg

The redesigned Versa sedan that reaches Nissan showrooms later this summer will post a 30 city/38 highway mpg rating, up from the current model's 28/34 rating. The Versa still has a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, but the 2012 model gets a dual-fuel injector system, the first U.S. application of the Nissan technology.