cars

Der Spiegel, a German newspaper, has spotted a footnote in the activities of the German parliament. A vote in the upper chamber, the Bundesrat, was the venue for a statement that it wished to see a ban on new petrol and diesel powered cars by 2030. Will it and can it take effect? Read on for one of life's most wonderful ironies - and no, it's not the one about Germany inventing the internal combustion engine. Don't worry, DTM lovers: you are not about to be cast into the wilderness.

In the 1970s, The Ford Motor Company had acres of open storage filled with made-in-England cars that they could not sell. The culture was to keep factories open albeit below capacity. Now they, and other manufacturers, are facing the same dilemma. Ford says it's not going to make the same mistake again.

The Nissan Leaf may be a great car (Nissan haven't given us one to drive yet) but as the UK disappears under another snow storm, it's clearly not the car for this year, or at least not this winter.

Maybe the surprise popularity of the Peugeot RCZ has inspired more manufacturers to be daring, moving what would once have been concept cars into production - and at an affordable price. At the Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo, the nicer end of the Fiat range, has announced the 4C and it's creating stirrings in places that usually only upmarket sports cars reach.