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Smart ForTwo GrandStyle Edition looks like the run-out model – price from £10,330

The Smart ForTwo GrandStyle comes as a coupe or cabrio The next generation Smart car is heading for the Paris Motor Show in October, so you can probably look at Smart’s latest special edition car – the Smart ForTwo GrandStyle Edition – as a final hurrah for Mercedes’ city car in its current guise. Based on the Smart Passion trim, the GrandStyle gets a set of 15″ gloss black alloys, LEd running lights,  titanium-coloured surrounds for the headlights, ‘grandstyle’ logos and a choice of five exterior and tridion colours. Inside comes swathed in Artico for an upmarket look, there’s a leather steering wheel, SatNav with 6.5″ colour screen, AirCon, cup holder and the option of a comfort package that adds heated seats and electric heated door mirrors.

New Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive goes in to production

The first Mercedes B-Class ED (pictured) rolls off the production line in Rastatt With the BMW i3 grabbing headlines – and flying out of showrooms – as BMW’s first electric car, Mercedes need to play catch-up with a convincing EV of their own, and that’s the new B-Class Electric Drive – an EV version of the regular B-Class – which has now gone in to production in Germany. Built alongside regular ICE versions of the B-Class at Mercedes’ Rastatt Plant, the B-Class ED (Electric Drive) looks practically the same as its more conventionally powered siblings – although the front bumper does look a bit different – and has an electric motor good for 177 bhp and 250 lb/ft of torque, can manage a scoot to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and has a range of up to 124 miles. The range – at least the quoted range – is a chunk better than the BMW i3′s and on a par with the latest Nissan LEAF, thanks to EV technology provided by Tesla, and the wrapping of an EV drivetrain in a conventional series production car could appeal to more buyers than the ‘statement’ design of the BMW i3.

Free tyre safety checks during October

A NOT-FOR-PROFIT tyre safety organisation has produced a website that allows drivers to locate a free tyre ‘health check’ during October. The website, from safety campaigners TyreSafe, will let users enter their home postcode to find the nearest garage to them that is offering to check for any issues like too little tread depth, incorrect pressures and foreign objects like nails or glass. October is set to be Tyre Safety Month, and with the weather turning cold and the nights drawing in – especially when the hour goes back – it’s crucial that drivers make sure their rubber isn’t putting their safety in jeopardy.