2011 electric car incentive details released (UK)

The first details of 2011’s £5k electric car allowance have been released by the Government. Subject to approval from the European Commission, the grant will be available from January 2011 and will fund 25% of the purchase price of a new electric car – up to a maximum of £5,000.

The contribution will be available for fully electric cars, such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the 2011 Nissan Leaf, plug-in electric hybrids such as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera and hydrogen fuel-cell cars like the Honda FCV.

Anyone wanting to claim the grant, will have to buy a car that meets the following criteria:

• It must be a car – not quad bike-based vehicles such as the G-Wiz.

• Emit a maximum of 75g/km of CO2 if it's a plug-in hybrid

• Have a minimum range of 70 miles as an electric-only vehicle

• Have a minimum battery-powered range of 10 miles if a plug-in hybrid

• Have a three-year or 75,000-mile warranty

• Have a three-year warranty on the battery or a five-year warranty if requested by the customer (presumably at extra cost, although this has not been clarified)

• It must retain ‘a reasonable degree of performance after a three-year period of normal use’. Further definition of this is not given.

As with the scrappage scheme, the discount will be applied at the point of sale, so car buyers won’t have to pay the full amount first and then claim the money back. There is no limit to the number of cars you can buy to receive the cash, and the scheme is open to both private individuals and companies.

A total of £230 million is being put aside by the Government, which is enough for at least 46,000 cars. The scheme will run to 31st March 2014 at the latest and be reviewed after 12 months.

Every manufacturer is looking at electric cars, hybrids and fuel cells, either through in-house development or by collaborating with other companies. Here are some of the cars already here – or in advanced stages of development.

Electric cars already on sale:

Citroen C1 'evie

Fiat Doblo Electrique

G-Wiz (would not qualify for grant)

Mega City (would not qualify for grant)

Mini E – in public trails, no confirmation of production car

Tesla Roadster

Electric cars on the way:

Citroen C-Zero/ Mitsubishi iMiEV/ Peugeot iOn – October 2010

Toyota Prius – trials underway, sales in 2011

Nissan Leaf – March 2011

Renault Twizy – late 2011

BMW Active – 2011

Volvo C30 – two year trial starts in 2011

Audi e-tron – 2012

Renault Zoe – 2012

Smart ED – 2012 (with trials starting in 2011)

Volvo V70 plug-in – 2012

Tesla S – by 2013

Plug-in Hybrids on the way:

Renault Fluence – 2011

Vauxhall/Opel Ampera – 2011

PSA & Mini in engine tie-up

BMW and PSA Peugeot-Citroen will carry on together developing 4 cylinder engines for next-generation models.

More than 1.3 million engines developed under the agreement have been used in Mini, Peugeot and Citroen models, and the two firms will now work at developing EU6 engines together.

Norbert Reithofer, BMW chairman, said, “We have always been very successful in our cooperation with our partners, and that is particularly true with regard to PSA. We are delighted to continue our engine cooperation and look into options for further collaboration.”

Components and systems will also be developed between the two firms.

Top 10 most popular cars bought by over the 65's (U.S)

With most customers favouring smaller cars, there is still one demographic that Detroit has a solid hold on… Retirees. Buyers over 65 are the last hope for the good American car. In some dealerships, anything upto 85% of all Buick buyers are 55 and older.

The over-65’s look at brands like Buick, Lincoln and Cadillac as status symbols. Those brands have what advertisers call the “Mind Share” in that demographic. Retirees remember a time when the only people driving those cars were celebrities and other high profile members of society; now they want in to that high-profile group of Cadillac drivers. Plus, older folks like familiarity, they know these brands, they’ve heard them their whole life.

Studies in the U.S have shown that the next generation of OAP’s prefer sporty, performance type vehicles as opposed to the large cloud cars on this list. As for now, here are the 10 best sellers with the old folks:

(The models are ranked based on the percentage of buyers age 65 or older, using market research data from J.D. Power and Associates. All the cars on this list get less than 20 mpg in town driving and less than 30 mpg extra urban driving.)

10. Ford Taurus – The Taurus is one Ford’s best selling models, in fact it was the best selling car in the 90s. Ford went through some weird phase where all the cars had names starting with ‘F’. They got rid of the Taurus title and called it the “Five Hundred”. Either way, the Taurus is back now and old people still love it. Upto 35% of all buyers are 65 years old or older.

9. Lincoln MKZ – Compared to the rest of the cars on this list, the Lincoln MKZ is a lightweight. It’s marketed to a fairly younger consumer, but just like the Taurus, 35% of it’s buyers are 65 or older.

8. Cadillac STS – The STS is probably the “sportiest” car on this list, although like the rest of the cars, it has a roomy interior and the blind spot/back up cameras that older people like. Retirees love the Cadillac brand, they remember it as being the ultimate car brand. 39% of all Cadillac STS buyers are over 65.

7. Toyota Avalon – The only foreign car on the top ten list is Toyota’s flagship sedan. That’s because Toyota specifically designed the Avalon to compete in this particular market of over-65’s. Because of all the press, 39% of all Avalon sales went to retirees.

6. Mercury Sable – The Sable is the Ford Taurus’ upmarket cousin, and just like it’s always been, it’s essentially just a Taurus with a Mercury badge. Old people love it though, nearly half of all Sables sold (48.5%) have gone to people over 65.

5. Buick LaCrosse – The top five on this list is where the real favourites lie; there is a substantial jump in the percentage of over 65 buyers as we go from #6 to #5 on the list: Only 48.5% of all Sables want to old folks, meanwhile, almost 64% of all Buick LaCrosse sales were to people over 65.

It has old folk favorites like OnStar, electric seats with memory and remote audio controls on the steering wheel. We’re in the over-50% zone now, so it’s a safe bet to avoid all Buick LaCrosses you see.

4. Buick Lucerne – The Lucerne is the beefier version of the Buick LaCrosse, plus is has parking sensors and reversing cameras. It also has ‘Lane Departure Warning System’ that alerts the driver if the car starts to move out of its lan. Still, with a full 67% of all Lucerne’s out there belonging to over 65’s, I’ll still steer clear of them, with or without lane departure warning system.

3. Mercury Grand Marquis – The Mercury Grand Marquis costs a little more than half the price of the Lincoln Town Car and the two cars are virtually identical. If you exclude cops and other fleet drivers, a full 69% of all Grand Marquis drivers are over 65.

2. Cadillac DTS – The DTS is slightly larger and less sporty than the STS. It’s actually a direct competitor to the Lincoln Town car, so it appeals to retirees for all the same reasons. Brand recognition, quality image, and lots of technology like lane-departure warning system and blind-spot systems that many of the other top ten have make 72% of OAP’s buy one.

1. Lincoln Town Car – More than 75% of all Town Cars out there are driven by someone over 65, so keep an eye out. The Town Car is probably one of the spacious sedans for less than $47k. It has more interior space than many large executive cars.

The car is just the typical old man car: huge interior, rear-wheel drive, mirror like ride, plush seats and a powerful V8 petrol engine.

Tesla Roadster now available in RHD (UK)

Tesla’s all-electric Roadster is now available in right-hand drive. The Tesla Roadster right-hand drive features a few improvements over previous left-hand models including a new sound system and new noise-reduction materials.

Cristiano Carlutti, Tesla's Vice President for European sales and operations, said there had been strong interest from UK customers for a right-hand drive model.

"The right-hand-drive model is our response to growing demand from high-performance car buyers in the UK who are also interested in their impact on the environment,” he said.

"Tesla is dramatically expanding its retail footprint in Europe, we look forward to building our community of owners and fans throughout the continent."

The model is available now from Tesla’s Knightsbridge showroom in London and is priced from £86,950. Tesla's all-electric Model S saloon will be available in 2012.

Lottery winners must have car manufactures (UK)

According to the latest research, a new BMW is the second most popular purchase for lottery winners, with Range Rover coming in at number six. The most popular brand that millionaires head for is Mercedes-Benz, with the C-Class topping the choice table for lottery winners. Vauxhall – in at number four in the list – might rate as more of a surprise entry in the chart, though.

A new car is also one of the first things that a lottery millionaire buys, with 36% of jackpot winners heading to a car showroom before buying a new house or even splashing some cash on the high street.

In fact, 13% of jackpot winners have bought at least 10 cars since their win, while the average number of cars bought per winning household is 5.17.

Meantime, here are the top 10 brands for lottery winners:

1. Mercedes-Benz
2. BMW
3. Mini
4. Vauxhall
5. Land Rover
6. Range Rover
7. Ford
8. Porsche
9. Audi
10. Jaguar

BMW says lottery winners can contact their VIP sales service in London's Park Lane if they require a more discreet service. Equally, celebrities regularly walk in to their local dealership and receive the same service as a less high-profile customer. However, with either of these routes to a new car, haggling for a discount might be difficult if the salesman knows how much cash the customer has to spend.

Millionaire footballers can subscribe to services such as Platinum Players where 'trustworthy dealers' are listed.

Our own top 10 if we won the lottery:

For performance – Audi R8 or Porsche 911 Turbo or Nissan GT-R

For sitting in the back – Rolls-Royce Phantom or RR Ghost or Bentley Mulsanne or Hyundai Equus 5.0 V8

For the family – Land Rover Discovery 4 or Mercedes GL350 CDI or Kia Sorento or Volkswagen California or Nissan Murano or Mercedes E350 CDI or S350 CDI or Toyota Land Cruiser V8

For posing – Audi TT coupe or BMW Z4 or Citroen C3 Picasso or Nissan Cube/Juke or Bentley Continental GTC

For around town – Ford Ka or Toyota iQ or Kia Picanto or Fiat 500 or Hyundai i10 or Mini Cooper or Renault Twingo

For business – Jaguar XF or BMW 5 Series or Cadillac CTS or Citroen C5 or Kia Borrego/Mohave

For those spur of the moment getaways – Citroen C1 or 2011 Hyundai Sonata or Jaguar XK or Mercedes SLS AMG or Audi Allroad – A4/A6

For fun – Lamborghini Gallardo or Bugatti Veyron or Dacia Sandero

For green credentials – Smart ForTwo CDI or Toyota Prius or Lexus LS600h

For admiring – Bentley Brooklands or Azure or Citroen C6 or 1965 Ford Mustang

Citroen C-Cactus too radical for customers

The Citroen C-Cactus concept car will reach production in a different form, after customer clinics questioned the car’s back-to-basics interior.

Research has uncovered aspects of the car that potential buyers were not happy with. The lack of dashboard and the way its instruments are clustered around the steering column were said to be particularly off-putting. Citroen is also considering fitting electric windows instead of the concept’s wind-up units, which reduce complexity.

But Citroën boss Frederic Banzet said the production C-Cactus will still be “an essential car”. That means its feature and equipment content will be pared back to keep the price and weight down, enabling Citroën to produce a cheap, fuel-efficient car. Banzet also said that unlike the Logan - rival Renault’s stripped-down value car, which is not part of the Renault range - the C-Cactus will sit within the regular Citroen line-up. Judging by leaked photos, the car will stay true to its concept.

Citroen is also working on a C6 replacement but according to Banzet, it'll be “something different”. It will still be a flagship car, but of an as-yet-undisclosed format, though some kind of crossover seems possible. Banzet believes that Citroen needs a flagship model “to stretch our designers and engineers”, arguing that the process of its creation will benefit the development of the rest of the range.

GM - Hybrids push up prices for non-hybrid cars, Toyota disagrees

GM vice-chairman, Bob Lutz believes that the high costs involved in building hybrid vehicles is pushing up the price of non-hybrid cars.

'GM will lose money on hybrids,' he said. 'We will continue to build them - and the cost will be spread across other cars.'

Lutz also said he thinks hybrid cars will never make up more than 10% of the U.S market. In the UK, hybrids make up 0.8% of car sales, according to figures from the SMMT. GM will start to sell its first extended-range electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, next year.

Toyota – the biggest maker of hybrids – disagrees with GM's stance on such cars.

A spokesman said: 'We will strive to make a million hybrids a year and as we achieve economies of scale, hybrid prices will come down. Hybrid vehicles are more complex, so there is a premium over non-hybrid vehicles, but we believe the overall cost of ownership, with the lower running costs, outweigh the initial purchase costs over non-hybrid cars.'