Volvo Tamd 165c on 2040-parts.com

Car giant starts recruitment phase

CAR GIANT Jaguar Land Rover has started recruiting for the first phase of 1,700 new jobs to support production of new vehicles. The company said 500 production staff will be taken on as part of expansion plans at its factory in Solihull, West Midlands. The carmaker is investing £1.5 billion in the UK and plans to increase its workforce at Solihull to almost 8,000.

Fiat Qubo gets eco:Drive

the Fiat Qubo is now being fitted with eco:Drive - Fiat's economy driving monitor But as all things ‘Eco’ are the name of the game at the moment (which we’re all in favour of – just don’t use ‘Man-Made Climate Change’ as the reason) Fiat are bolting on their eco:Drive system to the Qubo – but don’t worry it will shove the price up if you’re thinking of getting one – it’s a freebie. The Fiat eco-Drive started out with a launch on the Fiat 500 earlier in the year, and is now available on not just the 500, but the Grand Punto and the Bravo. Basically, it’s a USB stick that you plug in to the car which can then be read by software to tell you how badly you’re driving.

Euro NCAP tests for C4, Swift, CR-Z and iX35

The results from the latest round of Euro NCAP crash tests are in, and - surprise, surprise - every car tested came away with a maximum five-star safety rating. The new Citroen C4, Suzuki Swift, Honda CR-Z hybrid and Hyundai iX35 were all put through their paces, and each passed with flying colours. The latest results, while highlighting how far car safety has come in recent years (remember the notorious Rover 100 fiasco of 1997?), are bound to reignite the growing debate that the tests - or at least the marks awarded - need to show more differentiation between models.