New Jeep flagship London showroom

Jeep has launched a new flagship showroom in central London.

Executives, business leaders and sports stars were among the 100 guests hosted by Motor Village UK to celebrate the arrival of Jeep into Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Wigmore Street location.

Just around the corner from London’s famous Oxford Street, Motor Village UK will display Jeep vehicles in its shiny new showroom for the first time this spring. The flagship has previously only sold Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Abarth vehicles, making it the first time the iconic 4x4 car brand comes to the city. The Jeep Wrangler, Renegade, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee models will all be displayed.

The opening of the only Jeep dealership in central London coincides with Jeep’s 75th Anniversary celebrations for 2016. Born in 1941, Jeep has a rich heritage and history, and some of the marque's most famous models were on display at the gala launch opening including a 1946 Willys and a 1970s CJ-7.

Steve Zanlunghi, Head of Jeep Brand, EMEA and Managing Director, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles UK, and Fabio Di Prima, Head of Fiat Chrysler Motor Village UK, officially announced the opening of the site to an audience of selected guests. “London is clearly an important area for Jeep to be visible in, and what better way to do that than through the Motor Village site” said Di Prima. “From the iconic Wrangler, right through to our big Jeep Grand Cherokee, the whole range of award winning SUVs will be available for customers to see and discover more about. This is a wonderful opportunity for Jeep and its customers.”

A separate display, celebrating Jeep’s partnership with the blockbuster movie 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' was also shown, featuring the Jeep Renegade SUV, which appears in the film. As part of the celebrations, a special test drive experience has been organised until 31 March, in which customers can drive any of the current line-up of Jeep vehicles, with a Jeep specialist alongside for guidance.

Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell breaks new distance records

Hyundai and the London Hydrogen Network Expansion project (LHNE) has broken two new distance records for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

Working together, the partners of the government-backed LHNE project have broken the record for the longest journey in the UK on a single tank of hydrogen, travelling 400 miles - and have also broken the longest continuous journey for an FCEV by travelling 6,096 miles over the course of six days.

The record was broken in the ix35 Fuel Cell car as part of the LHNE partners’ contribution to Hydrogen Week (March 11-18), designed to raise awareness of the significant benefits offered by FCEVs and their environmentally-friendly credentials.

The group of companies that comprise the project, which is led by Air Products, completed around 50 of laps of the M25 motorway, plus mileage to and from one of the four publicly-accessible hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK.

Hydrogen FCEVs produce no harmful tailpipe emissions with water being the only by-product. With range and refuelling times similar to those of petrol or diesel cars, they can be seen as direct replacements for conventional vehicles.

LHNE, co-funded by Innovate UK, was set up in 2012 to create the UK’s first hydrogen-powered transport system across London and the South East. It has delivered a new publicly-accessible, state-of-the-art fast-fill SmartFuel hydrogen refuelling station and upgraded a second to 700 bar pressure status.

The LHNE partners are now keen for the adoption of a range of hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel cells, to accelerate in the UK but one of the main challenges is the limited coverage of refuelling stations to support the vehicles. There are currently four publicly-accessible stations in the UK, including the two Air Products SmartFuel stations in London, and funding is in place for at least 12 to be operational in England and Scotland within the next 12 months.

Diana Raine, European Business Manager Hydrogen Energy Systems at Air Products, which has led the LHNE project, said: “It is fantastic to have overhauled the two records we aimed to beat this week. The fact that we have managed to drive 6,096 miles in under a week demonstrates perfectly the viability and usability of FCEVs. What we need now for accelerated adoption of hydrogen vehicles is for the Government to work with our industry to provide the right framework for the technology to become truly accepted by the public.”

Prices for the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell vehicle start from £53,105 OTR with part-funding from the HyFive project - saving customers nearly £15,000 off the un-funded on-the-road-price of £67,985.

Dog parallel parks Vauxhall Corsa

It seems you really can teach an old dog new tricks, as Gerty the Boxer successfully parked a new Corsa.

Vauxhall put its all-new Corsa in the paws of a capable canine to test its latest Advanced Park Assist technology. The star of Vauxhall’s new #ParallelBarking video, which features the daring dog execute a parallel park, with no human assistance, left passers-by on Wimbledon High Street baffled.

Sitting in the driver’s seat of the red Vauxhall Corsa SE, Gerty shows off the advanced technology of the new easy parking feature – from how it detects a parking space to automatically computing the perfect manoeuvre into the slot – demonstrating that parallel parking can be a walk in the park.

Advanced Park Assist is now available as an optional extra in the new Corsa, available from £8,995 OTR. Watch Gerty in action here:

Volvo to celebrate the Estate car at Techno Classica 2016

Volvo has confirmed it will attend the world's biggest classic car show, Techno Classica, celebrating “60 years of estate heritage”.
 
The new Volvo V90, which just debuted at the Geneva Motor Show, comes after six decades of estate knowledge, starting with the Volvo Duett which was launched in 1953. Volvo describes it as the first car to meet the combined needs of drivers’ active leisure time and practical professional lives and has sold more than 6 million estates worldwide, representing around a third of the total number of Volvos sold since the company’s foundation in 1927.

The Volvo stand at Techno Classica is entirely devoted to the Swedish brand´s estate history, featuring a selection of six iconic estate models that have shaped Volvo’s history: The Duett - Launched in 1953, the Duett went on to become one of the first Volvos to be exported to the US and it was immortalised in 1997 when featured on a Swedish postage stamp.

The Duett was followed in 1962 by the Amazon, or the 221 as it was officially known. The Amazon was a more elegant and refined estate than the Duett, which had its origins as a delivery van, while it also offered more space in the boot. At the end of November 1967, Volvo presented the third variant in what was now developing into a complete car family known as the 140 Series: the Volvo 145. This design of the rear section has since become a well-known characteristic of all Volvo estates. The Volvo 145 quickly became an extremely popular estate and played an increasingly important role within the 140 Series.
 
A refresh of the 1800 sports coupe, the 1800 ES was known in England as a Shooting Brake: a sporty estate with space for hunting gear or golf clubs in the back. The 1800 ES was introduced in the autumn of 1971, and its most exciting feature possibly being the huge rear windscreen that had no bezel whatsoever. Hinges and handles were fixed directly to the glass, which was very modern in the early 1970s. As only around 8,000 1800 ES were built, it has become one of the most sought-after classic Volvo models.
 
In 1974, the archetypal Volvo estate car was launched: the 245, which remained in production for almost 20 years until 1993, and was also available in a more exclusive edition - the 265 with a V6 engine. The 1980s marked the launch of the 245 Turbo edition, the world’s first estate car with a turbo engine. With its intense yellow paint job, 240 horsepower and acceleration of 0-62mph in 6.9 seconds. Launched as a limited edition, model year 1994-only version of the 850, the T5-R became an ‘instant collector's item’ says Volvo.

Techno Classica takes place in Essen, Germany and runs from 6-10 April.