Longacre Red Oil Pressure Gagelites Warning Light Kit P/n 40100 on 2040-parts.com

Renault cuts back UK range, axes Laguna, Espace, Modus

Renault UK today announced a dramatic shake-up of its range – it's axing all sales of the Laguna, Espace, Modus, Wind and Kangoo in the UK from February 2012. It's part of a big drive to improve profitability in Great Britain. It plans to stop the majority of its rental and Motability sales to improve profitability.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante public debut at Pebble Beach next month

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante (pictured) will make its public debut at Pebble Beach in August Aston Martin is 100 years old this year so they’re pulling out all the stops for this year’s Pebble Beach, with the first public debut for both the new Vanquish Volante and V12 Vanquish S. The Vanquish Volante was revealed last month as an impressive soft top take on the new Vanquish, with Aston Martin claiming the new Vanquish Volante as the stiffest convertible ever built by Aston and promising the same performance as its tin-top sibling – 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds and 183mph – as well as a distinct like of the shimmy and shake many Aston convertibles exhibit. The month before the reveal of the Vanquish Volante, Aston Martin also revealed the new V12 Vantage S as the quickest production Aston ever, offering 565 willing horses, a new 7-speed Sportshift 3 automated manual ‘box, new sports exhaust and ceramic brakes.