Philip Hammond is Secretary of State for Transport

Philip Hammond - Secretary of State for Transport The Tories claimed in their election campaigning that motorists have had a raw deal under Labour. Do you know, we’d not noticed. We’d not noticed the inexorable rise in fuel duty even when the country was crying in pain; hadn’t seen the proliferation of speed cameras as revenue gathering tools; not noticed Ken’s cynical manipulation of London’s traffic prior to introducing congestion charging; failed to see that under Labour coppers had disappeared from our roads to be replaced by brainless machines.

Top Gear, Belfast and a Renault Twingo

Top Gear firing a Renault Twingo in to the sea in Belfast A couple of months ago we reported that Top Gear had upset Belfast with its filming antics for the latest series. To be fair, they didn’t upset Belfast as such, just a publicity seeking politician and a moron from FoE. All par for the course, we’d say.

BMW Concept5 X5 eDrive revealed. It’s a plug-in Hybrid X5

The BMW Concept5 X5 eDrive (pictured) will debut at Frankfurt The arrival of the BMW Concept X5 eDrive ahead of its debut at Frankfurt next month doesn’t preview and immediate addition to the X5 range of a plug-in hybrid, but it does show what will be on offer in a year or two. Just like yesterday’s Mercedes S500 plug-in hybrid, the X5 eDrive is another example of how car makers have developed their way round CO2 taxation levels by throwing electric motors at ICE engines to create a car that offers impressive emissions and economy on official tests. In the case of the X5 eDrive that means a four-cylinder twin power ICE engine (BMW aren’t saying, but we’re assuming its a petrol engine), a 94bhp electric motor and a lithium-ion battery under the boot all working together to produce an X5 that is capable (at least in official tests, which is all that matters) of 74.3mpg and emissions under 90g/km.