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Vauxhall Insignia VXR (2009): first official photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 15 April 2009 00:01 Yesterday we brought you spy video footage of the new Vauxhall Insignia VXR. Today we have the first official photographs of Luton’s new cut-price M3 four-door. Vauxhall will have the sporting family car segment almost to itself – Ford no longer builds a Mondeo ST and most European rivals no longer bother with high-horspower saloons (excepting VW’s equally crazed Passat R36).

Porsche Battery – a mere £1200

The rather expensive Porsche Lithium Ion Battery Car batteries have been roughly the same shape and size – and utilised basically the same lead-acid technology – for years. They’ve got better, as you no longer need to top them up with distilled water at regular intervals (I’m showing my age now), and they are less prone to going flat. But that probably has more to do with alternators replacing dynamos than the batteries themselves.

GM awards small-car production to Michigan plant

General Motors will make its new subcompact car in Orion Township, Mich., the automaker said Friday, dashing hopes in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Janesville, Wis., that the small car would keep one of their factories alive. Stamping for the new car will take place in Pontiac, Mich., GM said in a statement. The small car, which GM said it plans to start producing in 2011, will save about 1,200 jobs in Orion and 200 in Pontiac.