The quick and the dead

Reports of waning popularity for unrestricted autobahns prompts Simon Hacker to ask if 2016 could be the year the world slows down. 1 It’s official: we’re slowing down. Sort of. Scientists have worked out that the tidal pull on our oceans, thanks to the moon, is making our earth days longer. It’s not something we’re that […]

2004 MG ZT 2.0 CDTi

Every year in April, thousands of car enthusiasts gather at Cofton Park, Longbridge, on the outskirts of Birmingham, to mark the closure of MG Rover, the last British owned volume car maker, all the way back in 2005. Called Pride of Longbridge, the day is for any vehicle built at the iconic British factory during […]

Up in the Ether

Ford’s ether-based alternative fuels could transform diesel engine emissions and silence the naysayers. Jack Carfrae investigates.  Diesel has had a bad run of it lately. The fuel has been under scrutiny for some time on the grounds that it creates more NOx and particulate emissions (the bits that are bad for air quality) than petrol, […]

The new age of socket wars

Could the energy of the electric vehicle movement soon consume itself? As popularity for hybrid and EV cars continues to rise, Simon Hacker warns sparks may soon fly in the UK… 1 Individuality is a cool thing, you might say, until everyone’s doing it. Take the inexorable global rise of the electric vehicle (EV). Everybody, including […]

Psst, fancy an Evoque lookalike?

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but it can be a sore point to designers. Simon Hacker cross-examines today’s copycat cars – and asks if originality ever existed 1 We’re all used to that dismissive snort from anyone beholding the car catwalk’s latest offering: “that’s just a recycled Audi/Mercedes-Benz/Ford under a cheaper badge”. The […]