Mercedes CLC tease

By First Official Pictures 09 January 2008 11:19 Looking squat, mean and aggressive (the car, not the model), this is the new Mercedes CLC. And although the CLC is based on the current C-class-derived Sports Coupe, Merc hopes that the 1100 new or revised components will make the car a serious challenger to the BMW 1-series coupe. It certainly looks slicker than the current car, and with C-class inspired styling it looks smarter than today's stumpy model.

Best Western Hotels rolling out EV charging points in the UK

We’re electric car sceptics – or at least sceptical about their ability to replace the ICE car as our principal form of personal transport – although EVs do have their place as runarounds in urban areas, where their limited range isn’t really a factor. But taking your EV off for a weekend jaunt does pose logistical problems when the average range is probably no more than 80 miles, and something worth making the effort for a weekend away is almost always going to be further away than that. But a bit of smart marketing by Best Western Hotels – a group of 270 or so independently run hotels round the UK – means EV drivers will soon be able to plot their weekend away on the basis of Best Western Hotels en route, with Best Western planning on fitting EV charging points in their car parks, with half their hotels having free charging points by September.

Can Horn get US Volkswagen sales back on track?

Volkswagen AG's German executives readily admit they are a bit baffled by America, where, despite decades of exertion, Volkswagen's namesake VW brand still doesn't rank as a marquee marque. So why would the automaker choose a German native and Wolfsburg veteran, Michael Horn, as the new CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, to succeed Jonathan Browning, 54, who is leaving at the end of the year? To VW insiders and U.S.