Bentley Hunaudières: The Bentley that became a Bugatti

Bentley Hunaudieres Now seemingly forgotten, the Bentley Hunaudières Concept car from the 1999 Geneva Motor Show was the forerunner to the Bugatti Veyron. At the end of the 1990s Volkswagen embarked on a buying frenzy that would see them become makers of some of the world’s most desirable cars, acquiring Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in the space of a few months in 1998. But even though VW had bought Bentley and Bugatti it seems they weren’t entirely sure at first where they would take their new marques, and at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show they revealed a W16 hypercar.

OnStar tests Facebook updates, text-message reading services

General Motors' OnStar service is launching new features with the latest generation of its technology and is testing applications such as reading text messages and updating social-networking Web sites via voice command. The ninth generation of OnStar's software will let GM car owners use their smartphone to remotely start the engine and lock or unlock their cars. The service is called OnStar MyLink.

Volkswagen Golf Economy Range launched

Volkswagen has released a range of Eco cars - The VW Golf Economy Range With the obsession by car makers with CO2 emissions (but only because Governments structure their targets on CO2 levels) the aim of these Eco Golfs is to trim CO2 levels down, and they’ve succeeded in getting the whole Golf Economy Range under 120g/km, and the Golf BlueMotion down to 107g/km. Three versions of the 1.6 TDi are offered – a 90PS version, a 105PS version and a 105PS BlueMotion version. VW has achieved the lower emissions with aerodynamic tweaks, longer gear ratios and regenerative braking.