Honda Accord Original Stereo Receiver & Tape Deck on 2040-parts.com

Electric Ford Focus starts European production

The Electric Ford Focus (pictured) is now being built in Europe The electric Ford Focus is already in production, and on sale, in the USA, and now it’s gone in to production in Germany ahead of arriving with owners in July. So far, the Focus EV hasn’t been an overwhelming success in the US, with just over 700 sold in the first five months of 2013 but, even though Ford see the EV as a niche product, they’re still hoping to make a dent in sales of the Nissan LEAF in Europe. The Focus EV comes with an electric motor producing 143bhp and powered by a bank of lithium-ion batteries.

Electric Kia Soul planned for 2014

Kia has revealed that they will offer a battery electric version of the next generation Kia Soul when it arrives in 2014. Hyundai may have seen the light and decided the future for cars lies with hydrogen fuel cell cars and not battery electric cars, but sister company Kia thinks differently. It seems an odd polarity for the Korean siblings to take different routes to the future of powertrains for cars, but perhaps it’s just a case of hedging bets rather than an inability by Kia to see how impractical the BEV is as a replacement for a normal ICE car?

Rolls-Royce RR4 preview

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars today revealed the first design sketches of its next new model. Known internally as the RR4, the car is due to be launched in 2010 and will sit alongside the Phantom in the model line-up. The RR4 will be smaller than the Phantom and powered by a new engine, unique to Rolls-Royce.