Tesla takes a swipe at BMW & Audi

Tesla’s design boss, Franz von Holzhausen, says the BMW i3 is an IKEA car We’ve long been of the opinion that electric cars, certainly with the current levels of battery technology, can never be a replacement for an ICE car. But we do have soft spot for what Tesla are doing. That’s because Tesla has tackled the issues of electric cars in  the cleverest way possible by building a car (the Model S) that looks like a normal luxury car – rather than making it look odd or quirky just to ram home its difference – and made it travel a sensible distance on a single charge.

New Chinese saloon scores five stars at Euro NCAP

FLEDGLING Chinese car brand Qoros has scored an impressive five-star Euro NCAP result with its first car, the 3 saloon. Bolstering a 95% score in the long-established adult occupant protection and an 87% awarded for child passenger protection is an excellent 77% for pedestrian protection – a high score in what is a developing category. The 95% is, according to Qoros, the highest adult occupant protection score awarded by Euro NCAP in 2013.

Mini John Cooper Works concept (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew First Official Pictures 17 December 2013 16:00 This is the Mini John Cooper Works concept, which previews the look of the hottest version of the new third-gen Mini. The new JCW takes the larger, third-gen Mini three-door, which was revealed at Oxford last month, and gives it a triple nostrilled front bumper, red bodywork accents and myriad (doubtless superficial) vents for a racier look than its predecessor. New intakes also usurp the previous car’s front foglights, and 18in five-spoke alloys ape the look of the outgoing Mini GP flagship.