Boris planning war on diesel car drivers – London Mayor wants drivers of diesel cars to pay more

Boris wants to charge diesel cars an extra £10 to enter London We’ve long banged on about the nonsense of basing the cost of motoring on the Co2 emissions of cars, and it seems the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, also realises that Co2-based taxation has led to a real pollution problem. As we reported as far back as 2010, petrol cars – certainly before the introduction of Euro 6 emissions recently – are far cleaner than diesel cars when it comes to the sort of stuff that really matters – NoX and particulates. And the problem has been exacerbated by basing car taxation on Co2 emissions as lower Co2 levels have been much easier for car makers to achieve on diesel engines, which is why diesel-engined cars now account for around 50 per cent of all cars sold in the UK.

Mercedes signs joint venture to build carbonfibre parts

Not to be outdone by BMW’s joint venture with the SGL Group to manufacturer commercially viable carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the electric Megacity Vehicle, Mercedes has announced a joint venture with Japanese company Toray Industries to manufacturer and market its on CFRP automotive parts. The deal was signed in Germany today, with Toray taking a 50.1% stake, Daimler holding 44.9% and the remaining 5% being taken by other shareholders. The two companies started working together in March 2010, and while Toray has been working on the materials and moulding processes, Merc has designed the automotive parts and the technologies to join the parts together.

Audi RS5 engine confirmed, plus RS5 cabrio

By Tim Pollard (artist's impression by Radovan Varicak) Motor Industry 13 May 2009 13:44 Audi will fit a refettled naturally aspirated 4.2-litre V8 to its secret new RS5, CAR can confirm. We had previously reported the RS5 would use a twin-turbo iteration of this engine, but a senior source has told us it will not feature forced induction. We’re told it’s the same high-revving engine that powered the outgoing RS4, albeit spruced up with the latest Ingolstadt know-how.