Nissens 69018 Radiator on 2040-parts.com

£5000 electric car grants to cut a quarter off EV price

British motorists will qualify for grants lopping a quarter off the price of electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen cars – up to a maximum of £5000 discount – the Government confirmed this week. The Office for Low Emissions Vehicles, which launched six months ago, said the new grants would come into force from January 2011 as part of a £230 million low-carbon car incentive programme. Car buyers will qualify for the Plug-In Car Grant from an approved list of low-carbon cars.

Get up close and personal with the David Brown Automotive Speedback

The David Brown Automotive Speedback is certainly one of the more intriguing coachbuilt cars we've seen recently -- all the more so because it's a product of Britain, not the carrozzeria hub of Italy. We just got our first glimpse of the Speedback yesterday, and thanks to this XCar video, we can dive a bit deeper into the car's origins and its many design details (unfortunately, there's no on-road footage yet). The Speedback, in the words of DBA founder David Brown, seeks to combine the “classic simplicity of the '60s underpinned by a modern platform with all of the functionality you'd expect from a modern car.” And it does so successfully, from what we can tell so far.

McLaren’s Jenson Button & Lewis Hamilton get animated

McLaren has teamed up with Framestore to produce a series of animated – and amusing – cartoons showing on Sky F1. Somehow, despite having the British Grand Prix in one window and the Andy Murray match at Wimbledon in another on Sunday, we managed to miss this cartoon featuring McLaren, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button on Sky F1. It seems Sky F1 will be featuring a new cartoon from McLaren at every Grand Prix for the rest of the season, and if they are up to this standard they’ll be well worth looking forward to.