Holley Performance 26-504 Mechanical Fuel Pressure Gauge on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen Golf GTE Plug-in Hybrid UK debut

The VW Golf GTE (pictured) gets its UK debut at the NEX next week The Volkswagen Golf GTE – which VW see as a plug-in hybrid Golf GTI – was revealed in February ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show last month and is now heading for the Gadget Show Live at the NEC next week for its UK debut. With a 1.4 litre TSI petrol turbo producing 148bhp and a 101 bhp electric motor, the Golf GTE promises decent performance – 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds – daft official economy figures of 188 mpg and the ability to run on electric power only for up to 31 miles. It’s an appealing combination for a Golf that can offer city running benefits with a turn of decent performance when the mood takes, although at a price likely to be north of £30k it’s not exactly a budget buy.

New Ford Focus ST at Goodwood Festival of Speed – and a diesel version too (video)

The new Ford Focus ST teased The facelift for the Ford ST facelift has started, with Ford releasing a single image (above) of the new ST which will be on show at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, taking to the Goodwood Hillclimb in the ‘First Glance’ category. The basic facelift fodder for the new ST is what we saw earlier this year when the rest of the Focus range got a facelift, with a few new panels, bumpers, grill and lights marking out the old from the new. Ford is being coy about any power updates for the new ST, but it seems likely it will stick with the same 247bhp 2.0 litre as the current model and the same output.

Kia goes (dark) green

By Jesse Crosse Motor Industry 23 September 2008 11:00 Kia has unveiled a portfolio of new environmental technologies, including a 1.4-litre Ceed with stop-start (due in the UK in 2009), a Ceed hybrid and the latest version of its fuel cell-powered Sportage. The Korean manufacturer is investing heavily in research and development and will increase its spend on R&D from £2.2 billion this year to £2.6 billion by 2010, combined with a 40 percent increase in manpower at its research centres around the globe. The money is being spent on developing downsized, turbocharged engines, efficiency improvements to conventional engines such as friction reduction and the separation of accessories like water pumps from the engine.