Genuine Gm Nameplate 84523220 on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar XJ 4WD tackles the coldest town on earth (video)

Jaguar XJ 4WD (pictured) tackles the coldest town on earth If you’ve ever driven a Jaguar XJ in any amount of snow, you’ll know it’s pretty useless. You need a handy supply of snow socks and winter tyres too if you’re going to make any length of journey in seriously cold and snowy conditions without stopping to dig yourself out at regular intervals. But Jaguar now has an XJ that can tackle poor and snowy conditions in the AWD XJ (although, sadly, it’s not on sale in the UK) so they’ve headed out on a 2,000 mile round trip in temperatures down to -50 degrees to show that the 4WD XJ just keeps on going.

Volkswagen & Suzuki – it’s handbags at dawn

Volkswagen Suzuki Partnership - things aren't exactly rosy Back in 2009 Volkswagen invested a rather large chunk of change (around €2 billion) in Suzuki in exchange for a 20% stake in the Japanese car maker, and there were big hopes for advantages for both parties. Volkswagen were looking for a quick-fix route to the burgeoning car market in India, where Suzuki were doing very well, with sales in India last year of 1.13 million cars – almost half its production – in comparison to VW’s paltry sales of just 53,000. In return, Suzuki were expecting to get a quick route to cutting-edge hybrid and electric tech for their range, and access to VW’s engines.

Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato (2011) at Geneva motor show

Fiat surprised the Geneva audience with a Zagato-bodied variation on the familiar new 500 theme.  Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato: an Italian Mini Coupe rival With Mini branching out in all different directions and Citroen growing its DS brand, it was perhaps inevitable that Fiat would try new things with the 500. It looks strikingly different at first sight, but the Coupe Zagato is based on the existing 500 platform. The differences mainly concern a modified lower roofline, bearing the traditional Zagato double-hump roof contours and rear window/C-pillar treatment.  The standard 500 interior has been retrimmed in black and yellow leather to match the ‘Pop Yellow’ exterior hue.