Vintage Renault Du Pont - Enamel Lapel Pin Badge - Automobilia, Classic Car on 2040-parts.com

Koenigsegg planning an entry-level car – but it’ll still cost £500k

Koenigsegg are planning an entry-level car at half the price of the Agera R (pictured) Think of the cars that Christian von Koenigsegg has made since he started with the CC8S in 2002 and you think of them as extremes of the supercar genre; the Swedish engineering take on the bloated and massively complex Bugatti Veyron. Christian’s men in a shed in Sweden have gone on to make a series of progressively quicker and more impressive supercars, through the CCR, CCX and the Agera and on to the current most extreme iteration – the Koenigsegg One:1. But it looks like Christian has decided that his ambition to create the world’s greatest hypercar leaves room for a ‘Lesser’ Koenigsegg, a car that still has innovative engineering and extreme performance but comes at a lower price.

Faurecia Pin-spiration calls for premium pinboards

Faurecia has launched its ‘Faurecia Pin-spiration' contest, with a brand new 64GB iPad up for grabs. Tier supplier Faurecia is using online sharing community Pinterest to host a new competition to create a pinboard named ‘Faurecia Pin-spiration' – categorized under ‘Cars and Motorcycles' – and filled with things that reflect the meaning of ‘premium’ that could also be used in automotive design. To enter into the contest send an email to FaureciaNA@Faurecia.com with the link to the board along with your name, email address and phone number by 31 July, and Faurecia judges will then choose the winner.

Aston Martin DB9 4WD Plug-in Hybrid revealed by Bosch (video)

Bosch has built a plug-in hybrid Aston Martin DB9 We’ve always believed one of the best uses for hybrid powertrains is to provide extra performance on high-end cars, something Bosh has demonstrated by fitting the Aston Martin DB9 with a hybrid setup. The hybrid DB9 hasn’t been built to preview a production hybrid DB9 (although it probably should) but to demonstrate what Bosch can do with an existing car. Aston Martin donated the DB9 to Bosch for the hybrid project, and Bosh has fitted the DB9 with three electric motors – one at each front wheel and one next to the Aston’s V12 – which gives the DB9 something in the region of an extra 250bhp to play with.