Original Alfa Romeo 164 Ignition Coil on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen & Suzuki – it’s handbags at dawn

Volkswagen Suzuki Partnership - things aren't exactly rosy Back in 2009 Volkswagen invested a rather large chunk of change (around €2 billion) in Suzuki in exchange for a 20% stake in the Japanese car maker, and there were big hopes for advantages for both parties. Volkswagen were looking for a quick-fix route to the burgeoning car market in India, where Suzuki were doing very well, with sales in India last year of 1.13 million cars – almost half its production – in comparison to VW’s paltry sales of just 53,000. In return, Suzuki were expecting to get a quick route to cutting-edge hybrid and electric tech for their range, and access to VW’s engines.

SEAT Leon Cupra R arrives in the UK

The SEAT Leon Cupra R gets launched in the UK It was August last year that SEAT sent us a pile of bumph on the Leon Cupra R - the quickest SEAT to date – including a Cupra R press release we put up. We then had the Cupra R launch proper at Frankfurt in September, but it’s taken a further six months for SEAT to open up the order book in the UK (officially from 1st April) and no doubt a month or three more until the first UK customer gets to go and play. So was it worth the wait, this SEAT Leon Cupra R?

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.