Lime 18" Ancra Soft Hook on 2040-parts.com

Entries in for 2012 LA Design Challenge

Final designs for the 2025 Highway Patrol Vehicle from worldwide design studios are in for the Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge. Design studios from BMW DesignWorksUSA, General Motors, Honda North America, Honda Japan, Mercedes-Benz and Subaru are fighting it out to be honored in the annual contest by showcasing their creativity and talent. This year's Design Challenge asked automotive design studios to create a highway patrol vehicle for 2025 that tackled the ‘protect and serve' aspect while considering emissions, population growth and transportation infrastructure.

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

Renault turn central London in to a full-size Scalextric for the Zoe EV (video)

The Renault Zoe Scalextric cars turn on to the Embankment Even those who have never driven an electric car probably have if we count childhood exploits with Scalextric; hand-grip controllers clenched in hand seeing how fast you can go before your car tips off in a bend. So Renault decided it would be a good idea to create a full-size Scalextric track in central London, modify a pair of Renault Zoe EVs to slot in to the newly fabricated track and blat the cars round the 1.9 mile track in London controlled by competition winners from a helicopter hovering overhead. The race sees the two Zoes go head-to-head on the Scalextric track, starting out on the South Bank by the London Eye, over Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament, down the Embankment, up The Strand, over Waterloo Bridge, round the IMAX and finishing alongside the Thames at the finish line.