New Skoda Octavia vRS hatch & estate revealed

The 2013 Skoda Octavia vRS has been revealed (vRS hatch pictured) The Skoda Octavia vRS – the latest version of Skoda’s quick and appealing take on the VW Golf GTI – has been unveiled ahead of its debut at the Goodwood FoS in July, and it looks a cracker. Available as either a hatchback or estate – and as a diesel or a petrol – the Octavia vRS manages to repackage the Golf GTI and Golf GTD in to one Skoda, offering good performance (the vRS is a bit slower than the GTI to 62mph at 6.8 seconds but has a 2mph higher top speed), good looks and the promise of prices starting not much above £20k. The petrol vRS gets the Golf GTI’s 217bhp 2.0 litre TSI and the diesel vRS the 181bhp 2.0 litre TFI from the Golf GTD, both with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard and a six-speed DSG as option, sports suspension, XDS differential, quicker steering and multi-link rear suspension.

Bentley Continental GT Speed

Bentley has just revealed the most powerful car ever produced by the company. Aptly named the Continental GT Speed, the new car boasts 600bhp and can reach a top speed of 202mph. Inspired by Bentley's 'Speed' models of the 1920s, the new model features numerous tweaks to the GT's V12 power source and some design revisions all its own.

Nissan to launch plug-in hybrid & develop fuel cells with Mercedes

Nissan Renault & Mercedes working on 'Green' technology We have been a bit scathing about electric cars, and Nissan’s over-priced LEAF being proclaimed as a viable alternative to the ICE car. But we certainly understand the imperative for car makers to build cars which produce less CO2 (a highly dubious requirement) and use far less fuel (a very solid requirement). Sensibly, Nissan Renault, under Carlos Ghosn, aren’t putting all their eggs in one basket in the quest to make their cars cleaner, greener and more economical.