Max Prop Zinc 83m on 2040-parts.com

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.

Suzuki Swift Sport gets 5 doors & costs £14,249

The new Suzuki Swift Sport 5-door (pictured) offers a more practical option to the Sport The Suzuki Swift Sport arrived in the UK at the end of 2011, and although it wasn’t exactly the sort of hot hatch that would make a Fiesta ST quake in its boots it did up the fun factor from Suziki’s more than decent Swift. In fact, the 3-door Swift Sport did a bit more than up the fun factor, it got Australia’s advertising authorities up in arms about its ‘suggestive’ advertising and got itself banned from Ozzie TV for being too ‘hot’. Which probably didn’t do sales any harm at all.

Audi R8 E-tron (2012) sets new 'Ring record

Audi has set a new electric road car lap record of 8:09:099 minutes around the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The fully electric supercar isn't just a concept though - it's gearing up for sales before the end of 2012. How did the R8 E-tron lap the 'Ring so fast?