Ford Fiesta (2008): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 15 February 2008 00:01 You’re looking at Ford’s new Fiesta. The new supermini shares around half its parts with the Mazda 2 – which means the newcomer is the same size as today’s Fiesta but slightly lighter. Its diet will pay dividends in sensible things like emissions and fuel economy, but should also make it fun to drive.After months of speculation, we can finally see how closely the Fiesta has followed the Verve concept car, shown at numerous international motor shows.

VW Touareg BlueMotion hits the UK

Volkswagen has announced the VW Touareg BlueMotion for the UK Offering improved economy and lower emissions, the Touareg BlueMotion manages to drop in to a lower Co2 band by emitting 219g/km (a reduction from 244g/km on the V6 TDi) and it delivers 34mpg as opposed to 30.4mpg on the V7 TDi. These improvements have been achieved by the usual ECU tweaking, low rolling resistance tyres, some aerodynamic tweaks and a lower ride height (exactly the same sort of stuff that Ford has done on the EConetic range). And the penalty for the lower emissions and better economy is very slight, with the Touareg BlueMotion still managing the 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds and a top speed of  126mph.

Lamborghini by Giugiaro uncovered

At a recent visit to Giugiaro, this 50 year old unnamed Lamborghini, never before seen, suddenly appeared like an undiscovered Shakespeare manuscript, discreetly displayed in a library with no-one paying attention. Parked under some Greek temple-like stairs at the Giugiaro Design headquarters, the car sat on its period Borranis, painted in a yellow hue unseen this side of Ducati. No details, no background, but the story is simple: Fabrizio Giugiaro found some of his father's old sketches from the Bertone era (1960-1965).