Honda B20b Automotive/aircraft Conversion on 2040-parts.com

European Car of the Year shortlist announced

THE SEVEN CARS that will battle it out to become European Car of the Year (ECOTY) 2014 have been announced. Decided on by a jury of 53 motoring journalists from across Europe, the shortlists is made up of the BMW i3, Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda 3, Mercedes S-Class, Peugeot 308, Skoda Octavia and Tesla Model S. This is the first time the ECOTY shortlist of contenders has included two electric vehicles with the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.

Ralph Lauren: Ferrari 250 GTO, 250 TR, McLaren F1 LM & Bugatti 57 SC models

Ralph Lauren's Ferrari 250 GTO model - just $9500 One of the joys of success in life for a petrolhead is the ability to indulge in your love for cars. And few people have been as successful as designer Ralph Lauren, nor indulged in a car collection quite as stunning. Ralph owns a collection of more that 70 stunning cars, and as a little money-earner – and a treat for car fans – has had four of his cars faithfully recreated as 1/8th scale models.