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Vauxhall Adam (& Opel Adam): GM’s new ‘MINI’ in Europe

It's the Vauxhall Adam - name after Adam Opel GM’s MINI rivalling new small car for Europe will be the Vauxhall Adam, an odd name to celebrate the founder of Opel. It’s been known as the Opel ‘Junior’ (and, of course, Vauxhall ‘Junior’ for the UK) as it’s been blatting round roads camouflaged with swirly paint and bolt-on panels. But now it has a name, and the name is Adam (we also got the Adam ‘writing’ out its own name on the roads of Frankfurt in a rather odd introduction to the new ‘Mini’ car – video below).

Porsche Macan gets 2.0 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine

Porsche Macan gets 2.0 litre 4-Cylinder petrol engine The new Porsche Macan looks set to change the rules for the compact SUV market, with class best handling and dynamics and performance that beats many a focused hot hatch. But despite beliefs Porsche would offer its first 4-cylinder engine in a generation at launch, the only engines on offer were a 3.0 litre diesel in the Macan S Diesel, a 3.0 V6 Turbo in the Macan S and a 3.6 litre turbo in the Macan Turbo, with expectations that the Macan wouldn’t get a four-cylinder engine util the end of 2014. But it looks like an early arrival for the four-pot Macan with news it’s getting a new 2.0 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine which delivers 237bhp and 258lb/ft of torque, enough to get the Macan to 62mph in 6.9 seconds and offer official economy of 37.6mpg.

Nissan LEAF World Car of the Year 2011

Nissan LEAF World Car of the Year Award - presented by a man in brown suede trainers Why do judges on COTY Award panels persist in considering a car like the Nissan LEAF for such awards? How can it be, when it does everything less well than an ICE car, that it even gets a look in? We can only assume that the judges on these panels are trying to polish their own green halos.