Mercedes Ponton 190 Front Bumper Guard 190 on 2040-parts.com

Off the line: Fun cars and social responsibility Autoweek op-ed stands the test of time

It's been almost 21 years to the day that Autoweek printed Matt DeLorenzo's column “Off the Line: There's room for fast, fun cars in diet of social responsibility.” And in those two decades plus, not much has changed except the vehicles themselves. For example, sports cars like the Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Huayra have astronomically high performance and safety levels; similarly, sport-utility vehicles that haul entire families (and most of their earthly possessions) achieve fuel economy similar to that of 1970s midsize sedans. To read all of DeLorenzo's thoughts and his case for automobiles, click the links to download the article.

Audi R8 China Edition: 80 cars – numbered 1-99

Audi has produced a limited run R8 China Edition with a total of 80 cars being produced in Blue and Grey numbered 1-99. Not only has Audi produced the China Edition R8, they’ve gone to some trouble to make it as appealing as possible to Chinese buyers by numbering the cars 1-99, but excluding any number ’4′. The number 4 is thought unlucky in China as it sounds like ‘si’, which means death.

Toyota Prius plug-in to cost from £31k

Toyota Prius plug-in will cost £31k We thought it was probably too good to be true. When we revealed that the US price for the new Toyota Prius plug-in was 36 per cent more than a regular Prius, we did hope that price increase would apply to the UK too. Because if Toyota were to do the same in the UK, the plug-in Prius would have come in – after the taxpayer very generously chipped in a £5k subsidy for ‘eco’ cars – at a ‘buy’ price in the UK around £2.5k more than the non plug-in Prius.