New Mercedes A Class: Geneva 2012

New Mercedes A Class at Geneva We catch up with the new Mercedes A Class (2012) at Geneva and take a look at Mercedes’ answer to the BMW 1 Series. We had lots about the new Mercedes A Class in the run up to Geneva, but now we’ve had the chance to see it in Switzerland we’re even more convinced it could have the measure of the latest BMW 1 Series. The current A Class was very much a car bought by middle-aged, middle-class Mercedes owners for ‘er indoors.

BMW 1-series M Coupe (2011) teaser video

BMW is continuing to build up the hype ahead of the launch of its next M car – this is a teaser video giving us our first glimpse of the undisguised BMW 1-series M Coupe What’s new is our first look at this hot 1-series’ butch bodykit, complete with an engorged front bumper and triple air intakes. There are CSL-alike 19-inch wheels too, and sitting between the cross-drilled front discs is a twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six, producing 335bhp and 369lb ft. Drive, thankfully, goes to just the rear wheels, and they’ll be a choice of either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. There’ll be an M diff too, but we hear it might be on the options list as BMW’s money men fight to keep the list price under £40k.   

UK motorway to charge moving electric cars

The Highways Agency is set to test wireless charging in moving electric cars on a UK motorway, according to Engineering and Technology Magazine. This would see electric vehicles gain additional charge as they passed over wireless charging nodes embedded in the motorway’s road surface. On Bing: see pictures of wireless electric car charging Find out how much a used electric car costs on Auto Trader The concept, already used by some mobile phones and currently being trialled for static charging of electric cars, uses electromagnetic fields to pass current to batteries without the use of cables or wires.