Smp/standard Egv852 Egr Valve on 2040-parts.com

Saab on the road to independence

You’ve got to feel for Scandinavian car makers Saab and Volvo. Both swallowed up by big US car makers, and both now being abandoned in a vulnerable position after years of integrating their once independent products in to their parents infrastructure, they must wake up every day wondering if this is the day it all goes bang. Ford is simply trying (increasingly desperately) to off-load Volvo, but GM, which is in a much more precarious position than Ford, has now abandoned its Swedish child in a desperate attempt to appease Congress and survive.

Pagani Zonda R at the Nurburgring: on video

The phrase 'broken record' at the Nurburgring has become ever so slightly over-used. Every other week, another manufacturer steps forward with claims of shaving time off the fabled record.  Pagani are guilty of this as much as the next supercar brand. Yet for some strange reason, you can almost forgive them when you watch the documentary video footage below of Horacio Pagani talking you through the record-breaking, £1.3m, track-special Zonda R.

Mini unveils Clubman concept at Geneva Motor Show with more doors

This week Mini has brought the Clubman concept to the Geneva Motor Show, and even though it's officially a concept car for the purposes of its appearance at the 2014 edition of the Salon International de l'Auto, the car itself is basically production ready behind the scenes. The Clubman has grown unexpectedly for the 2015 model year redesign, to the point where it might be confused with the five-door Hardtop, but that's a different model which we'll see later in the year. Even though the Clubman now boasts six doors, it will be positioned somewhat differently from its five-door Hardtop sibling, even though in practice the two will be offering essentially the same package.