Kia Ac/heater Control Unit on 2040-parts.com

Land Rover Defender to be built in Sri Lanka

The Land Rover Defender is to be built outside the UK in a new plant in Sri Lanka to produce Defenders for the region. Land Rover are assisting and training staff at a new assembly plant in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, run by Sathosa Motors PLC in a 50-50 deal with Land Rover distributors SML Frontier Automotive, with $1 million being invested to get the project up and running this year. It seems clear from the level of investment that this is simply an assembly operation using CKD kits from the UK for the Defender, but Sri Lank’s Daily News is reporting that there are plans to invest $500 million in the project.

Mercedes Electric Drive B-Class at Paris 2012

Mercedes has revealed an electric version of the new B-Class – the B-Class Electric Drive Concept – which will debut at Paris 2012. Mercedes has revealed the electric B-Class in the guise of the B-Class Electric Drive Concept – a name Mercedes say will find its way on to the boot of all electric Mercedes, Smart and Tesla cars – which previews a production version by 2014. Powering the B-Class Electric Drive is the Smart electric Drive powerplant, located in the space normally taken up by the ICE, which offers 134bhp and a healthy 228lb/ft of torque with the batteries to power the electric motor housed in what Mercedes are calling the B-Class’s Energy space ahead of the rear axle.

Tesla Model S Performance is the quickest electric car…in the world

A Tesla Model S Performance has set a world record as the fastest production electric car with a 1/4 mile run of just 12.371 seconds. Yes, we still believe – certainly with the current and prospective battery technology – that the only real use an electric car has is as a small urban runaround or a local deliver vehicle. But that doesn’t stop us being impressed by the Tesla Model S.