Steering Knuckle Dorman 697-963 on 2040-parts.com

Volvo confirms big production increase for V60 Plug-in Hybrid

Volvo has been building around 150 V60 Plug-ins a week at its facility in Torslanda – alongside the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90 – but that is now set to be upped to 282 cars a week for the rest of 2013, with plans to build at least 10,000 in 2014. The fact is that the V60 is a very appealing estate car already, and bolting a plug-in hybrid setup has turned it in to a big hit in showrooms because the barking mad official economy and emissions system bestows the V60 plug-in with emissions of just 48g/km, making it a real no-brainer in countries where governments blindly tax cars based on their official emissions. That means countries like Holland, where Volvo has received more than 3,000 orders for the V60 Plug-in, and the UK are lapping up the hybrid offering from Volvo as a way to escape big taxes and still have a swift (0-62mph in 6.1 seconds), appealing and stylish car.

Alfa Romeo Gloria Concept looks like a proper Alfa

A new Alfa concept – the Alfa Romeo Gloria Concept – is heading for the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. But it’s not previewing a new Alfa. They’re wrong, of course, but the logic that if you buy a car for how it looks and how it makes you feel, rather than its reliability or cost, marks you out as someone with high octane fuel instead of blood running through your veins, is sound.

Dodge red lights in your autonomous Audi: More tech from CES

Audi wowed the crowd at CES with a new advancement in, of all things, headlights when it announced it would show a version of its Sport quattro laserlight Concept with laser beam headlights. Frickin' laser beams, as Dr. Evil once demanded on sharks (the good doctor ultimately had to settle for sea bass instead of sharks, but they still had laser beams).