Volvo Penta Marine Genuine Original Oem Engine Lifting Eye 40005332 on 2040-parts.com

Happy New Year! Our Top 12 Car News stories of 2012 – month by month

Happy New Year to one and all from all of us here at Cars UK. We take a look back at the top car news story on Cars UK for every month of 2012. As it’s New Years Day 2013, it seems the right time to take a look back at the top car news stories of 2012.

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production underway

The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries. Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60′s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90. That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.

Bonkers Renault Twizy EV on sale at £6,690 +video

Renault Twizy EV - now on sale in the UK The Renault Twizy – a four wheel EV Scooter – has gone on sale in the UK this week at £6,990 plus £45 a month battery hire. To try and make electric cars do what conventional cars can do is a pointless task; it’s just not possible, certainly without quantum leaps in battery technology which, despite endless claims to the contrary, seems highly unlikely. But that doesn’t mean electric vehicles don’t have a place – they do.