Phil McNamara's 2010 LA Auto Show report

Optimism. California was built on it, and the first press day of the Los Angeles auto show was mired in thick, gloopy, ‘we’re going to save/conquer the world’ with cars rhetoric. Mercedes saw no irony whatsoever in announcing 200 deliveries of the zero emission hydrogen fuel cell B-class, then without missing a beat unveiling the 550hp CLS63 AMG, with huge increases in power and torque.

Land Rover Freelander 2 Facelift (2011) Revealed

The tweaked - and more powerful - Land Rover Freelander 2 2011 Back in May we reported that there would be a facelift for the Freelander 2 for 2011, with the required cosmetic tweaks to keep it fresh for another year or two, and to bring the Freelander 2 in to line with the rest of Land Rover’s models. Here we are three months later and Land Rover have revealed the 2011 Freelander 2 – and a surprise. The surprise is that Land Rover aren’t waiting for the Range Rover Evoque to hit the roads to piss off the Land Rover aficionados by launching a 2WD model, they’ve decided to get it out of the way early and are going to launch a 2WD Freelander 2 in January 2011.

Mercedes Viano Vision Diamond – the Maybach of vans

Mercedes Viano Vision Diamond Mercedes-Benz has revealed the Viano Vision Diamond at Beijing, a utilitarian Mercedes van with the interior of a Maybach. The Maybach brand didn’t do Mercedes any favours, with German glitterballs proving no match for British (oh, alright, German-ish) understated elegance in the Rolls Royce Phantom. Maybach has now been re-consigned to the dustbin of history and likely only ever to be seen as a badge to denote the glitziest model in the next S Class range.