Berkeley Bronze B Cut Impeller on 2040-parts.com

Electric car sales DOWN 20% in 2012 – time to scrap subsidies for EVs?

The SMMT are reporting that sales of electric cars in the UK have fallen by 20 per cent in the year to date (2012). Despite every green evangelist proclaiming that electric cars are the way to save the planet from imminent doom, UK car buyers obviously disagree. Despite a taxpayer bribe of £5000 to buy an over-priced electric car, car buyers have not exactly taken to the EV in droves.

Video: Aston Martin design chief on new Rapide

CAR recently caught up with Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman – on board one of the first Aston Rapides to be built. You can watch our video interview in the player below, as CAR contributor Guy Bird interviews Reichman. He talks about the new Rapide, and why it shouldn't be seen as a rival for a Merc S-class or even a Porsche Panamera, the crazy new Cygnet – a Toyota iQ by Aston Martin – and the new million-pound One-77 hypercar.

GM's Ed Whitacre meets the press in Web chat

General Motors' new front man, Ed Whitacre, remains a bit of an elusive figure in the car world. But at the very least, the former telecom honcho who's now the leader of the nation's largest automaker does like cars. “Oh yes,” he answered in response to that question during a Web chat on Tuesday, one of his first interactions with the media so far in his tenure at the helm of GM.