Ford 1935 Original Vintage Hood Handles on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars amped up with £500 million boost

THE GOVERNMENT is to extend the £5,000 grant scheme open to anyone who buys a car with plug-in electric power. It is part of a £500 million move to encourage car owners – and city authorities – to take up the electric car baton and run with it. The initiative will give cities a chance to win government funding to further the sales of electric cars in their areas, for example by allowing them to use bus lanes or park for free.

Audi A1 1.4 TFSI (2010) first picture

This new Audi A1 might have a long and convoluted name – it's the A1 1.4 TFSI (136 kW) – but it's not an Audi S1 by another name. While everyone has been expecting a hot version of the A1 to be unveiled at next week's Paris motor show (and this is it), it's not dubbed S1 because there's an even hotter version of the A1 still to come. Meanwhile, this first tuned and tweaked version of the A1 uses the same engine as the VW Polo GTI, Skoda Fabia vRS and Seat Ibiza Cupra.

The most beautiful cars at Pebble Beach and Monterey week 2013

It’s said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some car designs that just work brilliantly – ones that few will ever argue are anything other than beautiful. These are two dozen such cars – we reckon all are landmark designs that will always look nothing less than stunning.