A Canadian professor has come up with a way of making car interiors from cows killed by Mad Cow Disease.

The Canadian beef industry was almost fatally ruined in 2003 by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - also known as Mad Cow Disease - and all use of infected cow carcasses banned completely.

However, David Bressler of the University of Alberta has devised a way of using infected cow parts to make plastics for car interiors.

They include cow skulls, nerves, tonsils, eyes, spinal ...

Euro NCAP has released the crash test results of ten new cars, giving nine of them a full five-star overall rating. The full results are listed below.

The only car of a pack including the Audi A6, BMW X3 and Chevrolet Orlando that hasn't achieved top marks is the Kia Picanto city car, awarded four stars.

The new Picanto has enjoyed good reviews since its recent launch, but was criticised by Euro NCAP safety assessors for not including electronic stability control (ESC) as standard ac...

Bentley will waft into the Frankfurt Motor Show with the new convertible version of the Continental GT.

Called the GTC, it follows the same blueprint as the outgoing version - in fact, only an ardent Bentley follower and the odd footballer will be able to tell the difference.

Like the GT coupé unveiled last year, there's been no radical overhaul of the looks, but rather a sharpening up - much like the sort of thing Porsche does with the 911.

However, the interior is greatly improved, ...

An AA patrolman has been reward for a staggering 45 years of service and 80,000 breakdown rescues.

Jim Haggart, 60, from Glasgow, is the AA's longest-serving patrolman. He joined the firm as a teenager and has remained an employee ever since.

Bosses made Jim a trophy and gave him an extra week's holiday to recognise his length of service.

Jim believes that he has helped out around 1,500 to 2,000 beleaguered motorists each year since joining the AA. He has no plans to retire yet and int...

Porsche has finally revealed official pictures of the next generation of 911.

The German performance car maker has leaked pre-production images, videos and all manner of snippets of information about the new model over the previous months, and now we know what the finished item will look like.

Broadly speaking, the new 911 is very similar to the previous 997 model, but there are a few subtle differences.

It's lower, wider, lighter and more muscular than before, but the biggest change i...

It's five o'clock in the morning in London's Battersea Park. The sky is still completely black, the occasional fox trots across the grass and a 1910 Ford Model T splutters into life. Not what you'd expect to hear at that time and in that place, but it's our reason for being there so early.

This year is the 100th that Ford has been building cars in Britain and ten of the company's most iconic models from the last century have gathered in London for a special drive around the capital a...

Volkswagen has unveiled the first images of its new up! city car. With miniature proportions and super frugal engines, it's expected to be the German's firm's biggest seller when it goes on sale in the UK next year.

The up! has been in the pipeline for some time - pre-production images and various leaked bits of information have been appearing for years, but now the baby VW is set in stone. It will be revealed in the metal at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show.

Tiny, tall and cute, th...

Kia's conveyor belt of stunning concepts has delivered yet again with the unveiling of a four-door coupé to rival the Mercedes CLS.

It's a sign of how far Kia has come that it can be mentioned in the same sentence as Mercedes - let alone one of Mercedes-Benz's flagship cars.

The as-yet-unnamed coupé will be revealed (along with its name) at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Kia is saying nothing about production yet, though the car's designer is suggesting it could eventually g...

Toyota is more famous for topping reliability surveys than desirability ones, but the Yaris is seemingly irresistible to thieves.

Toyota's supermini has topped the table of the UK's most stolen cars, so says insurance comparison website Confused.com.

Between 2004 and 2011, one in every 244 Yaris models insured through Confused.com was stolen. By contrast, the Ford Ka was the least stolen car using the same measure - not a single one taken.

According to car-thief-turned-security-expert M...

A Fiat made in 1904, buried in 1932, exhumed in 1942 then finally restored in 2007 will take part in a historic rally from London to Brighton.

The Fiat 24/32 was bought in Italy in 1904 by a wealthy American lady, Mrs George Agassiz, while she was on honeymoon. She had it shipped to her Cape Cod estate and used it as her runabout for 28 years.

In 1932 Mrs Agassiz decided to sell, but couldn't find a buyer. So, instead of having it scrapped (and trading it in for a small Hyundai, perha...

BMW is planning its first ever diesel M car, which would without doubt, be the most controversial ever to emerge from the company's legendary M Division.

According to the Detroit Bureau, a "well placed source" at the German manufacturer has confirmed that it a diesel powered, four-wheel drive M saloon is on the way.

The M Division is no stranger to controversy, having evoked the wrath of fans when it unveiled the X5 and X6 M variants; with a reputation hard earned from building high ...

Up and coming racing star Jordan Witt miraculously survived a 110mph smash at Donnington race course.

In fact, Jordan, 20, escaped with only minor elbow injuries after his Chevron GR8 GT was clipped by a Ferrari 430 and smashed into a concrete wall.

Jordan was taking part in Donnington's GT Cup competition, and had qualified in pole position, though his race came to a sudden halt at the very first corner.

The offending Ferrari was being driven by star of TV's 'Secret Millionaire' Gary ...

A brand new luxury car company from the UK will be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Called Eterniti, the company has seemingly emerged from nowhere, and very little is known about exactly what it will do and who is behind it.

All we have is the above sketch of a sporty crossover and a website hosting a teaser video that ends with the word 'Hemera' - presumably the name of the car. It can be found at www.eternitimotors.com.

We know it will be a luxury brand because of the three lin...

In a rare display of carmaker poverty, Saab has pulled out of a major motor show because it can't afford to go.

It says that instead of spending fortunes on a lavish Frankfurt Motor Show stand, it will concentrate on more fundamental issues like keeping its Trollhattan factory going, and paying staff wages.

It is also working on developing the new 9-3 saloon - a car that, if it comes to market in time, might just save the company.

Saab has had a turbulent time over the last few years, an...

It's the retro re-interpretation that everyone's been waiting for, and finally it's here: Jaguar has brought back the E -Type.

The C-X16 will be Jaguar's star at the Frankfurt Motor Show, previewing a small Jaguar sportscar that will come early 2013.

Jaguar is calling it a 'production concept' which suggests it's very close to the car that will hit showrooms. Clearly there are similarities to the current XK, although the C-X16 is much smaller.

It will be available as a coupé and a conve...

Could you justify paying the price of a Volkswagen Golf GTI for a pedal bike? You might if you knew it would make you quicker than Lance Armstrong and looked as cool as the M55 Terminus.

The Terminus, which was unveiled at the Top Marques 2011 supercar show in Monaco, has now gone on sale, priced at around £25,000.

Only five runs of 55 bikes will be made, each a different take on the basic architecture. The second run, however, will be the special 'Biceps' model, which features uniq...

A pensioner has been banned from the road for drink driving, after falling of his Motability scooter at 4mph.

The embarrassed drunkard, 75-year-old Arthur Dick, was three times over the drink-drive limit when he fell of his scooter on his way home from a pub.

The pensioner, from Elgin in Scotland, was found mid-afternoon on the floor next to his scooter. Police were called and he was breathalysed.

Speaking to 'The Sun' newspaper, he said: "I only went in for one pint but friends kept b...

Step aside Rolls-Royce - the new king of luxury saloons is on the way. Bugatti has confirmed that it will put the Galibier, the ultimate family four-door, into production.

The Galibier was first unveiled as a concept in 2009 - complete with eight tailpipes - but Bugatti has stopped short of giving it the green light for production. Until now.

Speaking to German motoring magazine 'Auto Motor Und Sport', Bugatti boss Wolfgang Durheimer confirmed that the car will be built, with an aski...

BMW is celebrating a decade of producing the 'new' MINI with an enormous prize giveaway including a trip to the Cape Canaveral space centre.

Yes, it's been ten years since the BMW era MINI first hit UK showrooms. Now in its second generation, the MINI hatchback hasn't changed much at all, although it will soon become one of six new MINIs in an ever-expanding model range.

That's because the new two-seat MINI Coupé and Roadster will be added to the existing range comprising the hatchba...

A massive pothole scuppered the UK's chances of breaking the electric land speed record.

The battery powered Bluebird was on course to hit 150mph, smashing the previous 137mph record, when it hit the hole and damaged its suspension. Consequently, the record attempt had to be abandoned.

It was being driven by 19-year-old Joe Wales, the great grandson of the former land speed record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell. Thankfully he only suffered mild whiplash.

Sir Malcolm Campbell set a 174mph ...

A British mechanic got the shock of his life during a routine inspection - he lifted the bonnet of a customer's car and found a five-foot long boa constrictor nestling underneath.

The five-inch thick snake was curled up in a space in the engine bay of a blue MINI Cooper. The car was about to undergo an MOT test at Carringtons of Oxford.

Mechanic Wayne Hunt, said: "We immediately called the RSPCA to collect the snake, since it didn't belong to the customer and we had no idea who owned ...

Driver Robert Gould had a lucky escape after a bovine-related motoring encounter.

He stamped on the brakes and skidded into what he described as a "flying cow."

"I was driving along when a cow jumped out and landed on my bonnet." He told the 'Daily Mail'.

"It had hurdled a three-foot high fence and hit the front of my car. I had no time to brake and my car veered to the other side of the road. I was very lucky that nothing was coming in the opposite direction."

Robert's car skidded 80 yar...

The Highways Agency is to switch off more lights on motorways at night, in an attempt to save money and reduce pollution.

The M1 in Bedfordshire is the next major road to go dark. The section between junctions 10 for Luton and 15 for Milton Keynes will have its lights turned off at quiet times overnight.

The move has sparked controversy among motoring groups as to whether it will compromise safety.

Head of Road Safety at the AA, Andrew Howard, told the 'Daily Telegraph': "We think there...

Safety regulations have delayed the American launch of supercar maker Pagani's next model, the Huayra.

The replacement for the long-standing Zonda has been deemed unsafe by US health and safety authorities because it won't be fitted with the correct kind of airbags.

Pagani applied for exemption from the rule that requires the Huayra to be fitted with advanced airbags on the grounds that it would too expensive to fit to this kind of car.

Advanced airbags are specifically designed to pro...

Porsche has given one last hurrah to the most extreme version of the 911 yet, the GT3 Cup.

Despite its six-figure price tag, the GT3 Cup is the world's most successful racing car, with more than 2,200 sold across the globe to wealthy gentleman racers.

With the brand new 991 generation 911 due to be unveiled at Frankfurt, Porsche is making run out versions of the current car, codename 997. This is the most extreme goodbye it will get.

Changes over the slightly older 911 GT3 Cup include ...

Bentley's boss has confirmed that the company is working on a luxury 4x4 to rival the Range Rover.

It will be a huge (and controversial) step from a maker with no SUV history and whose output has always been split between ultra-luxurious limos and ultra-fast coupés.

But talking to an audience at a special dinner at the company's Crewe base, CEO Wolfgang Durheimer confirmed that the company will indeed put a crossover SUV into showrooms.

It will be based on the same platform as the Aud...

Project Kahn, ever the pioneer of taste and discretion when it comes to car customisation, has revealed its latest creation: The Project Kahn Vesuvius Edition Sport 300.

Based on a Range Rover Sport, it is of course named after the eponymous Italian volcano, so it's fitting that the bonnet stripe and roof are burnt orange.

The rest of the car is black, including the 22-inch alloy wheels, though they too are highlighted in orange. Even the tailpipes get a black finish, while the low s...

It may have already leaked onto the internet, but there's no chance of the Audi Urban Concept leaking anything else. It's an electric car.

Fresh from 'spy shots' leaking onto the internet yesterday (9 August 2011) after the car went on a testing run in Munich city centre, Audi has brought forward the release of information on its futuristic little city vehicle.

As you can see, there's a lot of R8 in the design, including the side strakes, door handles, grille and two-seat design - bu...

Suzuki's star at the Frankfurt Motor Show will be the new Suzuki Swift Sport. It's been on the cards since the next-generation Swift was unveiled in 2010, but it doesn't disappoint.

The last Swift Sport was so well received it reached near iconic status. Great to look at, fun to drive, but not too powerful to prohibit younger drivers from insuring it, it proved immensely popular.

The new Sport sticks with that blueprint, with looks remarkably similar to the last generation version, b...

Hyundai's brand new i30 hatchback will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The second version of the family hatchback brings the Hyundai revolution full circle.

When the current i30 was released, along with sister car the Kia cee'd, it was the first time a Korean company had cars that could genuinely compete in the hugely cut-throat family hatchback sector.

Dominated by European and Japanese cars like the Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Astra and Honda Civic, the i30 went into the mix becau...

In a fit of surprising (or possibly deliberate) carelessness, Porsche's test engineers have been caught on video with an undisguised next generation 911, well before its official unveiling.

The short film, captured on a mobile phone, shows a brown 911 leaving an Esso garage. The amateur cameraman follows the car to a traffic light to catch the sights and awesome sounds of it speeding away.

Despite the car clearly being a pre-production model, it is virtually undisguised and gives us t...

This is the Imperium Bentley Continental GT, created as a one-off project for a 'well known British entrepreneur'.

Sadly, that means there are no production plans, and we have no idea how much it cost the famous but anonymous client, but the fact that Imperium has shown it off means it could see a limited run. Assuming, of course, the owner agrees.

The Imperium Continental has a carbon fibre body kit, including skirts finished in clear lacquer to expose the weave. The matte black alloy...

When the Sultan of Brunei decides to clear some space in his garage, you could guess that the resulting sale will hardly be a collection of tabletop bric-a-brac.

However, the 21 cars put up for sale by the Sultan are absolutely astonishing - they include a £1.2 million Ferrari Enzo (pictured).

But the most surprising thing about the sale is the amount of exotic cars - some of them extremely rare - that have been left to rust.

That's because the Sultan seemingly spent so much time buy...

A limousine used by Pope Paul VI and the Apollo 8 astronauts will be sold at auction later this month.

The 1964 Lincoln Continental was ordered by the Vatican to ferry the pope of the time around New York and later Chicago in the mid-Sixties.

In December 1968, it was used as transport by astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, who made up the crew of NASA's Apollo 8 mission. They were the first men to orbit the moon and the limo was used as a parade car to celebrate ...

A US security consultant says he can unlock thousands of cars just by sending a text message.

Don Bailey, a security expert at iSEC Partners, demonstrated how he could automatically unlock all manner of cars during a security conference in Las Vegas.

He refused to reveal which makes and models of car he could get into. He did, however, warn that the same easy method could be used to hack into phones, cash machines and even water and power supplies.

Speaking to CNN during the conferenc...

BMW pulled the wraps off two all-new electric 'i' cars in Frankfurt last week.

The i3 city car and the i8 supercar are the first electric cars from the German firm (if you don't count the limited lease MINI E, that is) and they could be in production as early as 2013.

Though they both run in part or entirely on electric power, the pair couldn't be more different. The i3 is a boxy city car, but it can seat four adults and has a 200-litre boot. BMW claims it will be used mostly in citie...

Ford will pull the wraps off four brand new models at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

Any new model from the Blue Oval is always a major event on the motoring calendar, but four at once is big news for the car industry.

We only have a teaser picture to go by for now, which is a heavily shadowed image of what we assume is Ford's major new design concept.

Another of the four models will be a high performance version of the latest Focus in near production-ready form.

It's likely to b...

A family of four had a lucky escape when their car burst into flames on the motorway.

Smoke started pouring from the bonnet of the Renault Scenic on the M42 last Saturday morning, so the family of holidaymakers stopped and ran for cover.

The smoke worsened and, minutes later, the car exploded into a huge fireball.

No-one was hurt, but traffic was disrupted for nine hours while fire fighters closed two lanes of the motorway to tackle the blaze.

It is not known why the car suddenly caugh...

A giant Airfix kit-style sculpture of the late Ayrton Senna's F1 car is to be sold at auction later this month.

The sculpture, which feature's Senna's iconic McLaren MP4/6 car from his final season as world champion, is expected to make between £30- and £50,000.

It will be sold by classic car specialist Coys during a sale at the Nürburgring circuit in Germany on August 13.

Stunning though it is, the sculpture has been around for almost 20 years. The car was dismantled by McLaren and...

The trend-setting Range Rover Evoque has been named Car of the Year - but the first model has yet to be delivered to a buyer.

'Auto Express' hailed the Evoque as its Car of the Year at an awards ceremony at Woburn Safari Park last night (August 2), where it battled it out to be named best car of the last 12 months.

The Evoque also won the Best Compact SUV award, which proves that it has lived up to the huge amount of hype surrounding its launch.

The smallest ever Range Rover goes on sa...

It's a symbol of prestige, luxury and fine engineering, but the Mercedes-Benz star is also hugely versatile. Especially when it's attached to a Unimog, Mercedes-Benz's truck-cum-tractor that keeps Germany running. The mighty four-wheel drive machine is more capable than anything else on wheels - covering ground that a hovercraft might struggle with - and it celebrates 60 years of hauling, lifting, chopping, ploughing (you name it and you can attach it to a Unimog) this year. We were ...

Four new videos are now available on YouTube.

Show me, tell me

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has published a new video playlist about the ‘show me, tell me’ part of the practical driving test.

• Watch the playlist on DSA’s YouTube channel

How to book your theory test

Directgov has published a new video showing how to book your theory test online.

• Watch the video on Directgov’s YouTube channel

Put the videos on your website

If you run your own website please feel free to put the ...

The Bugatti Veyron might be among the fastest cars in the world, but the marketplace for 253mph hyper-cars priced at over a million pounds is limited.

The marketplace for super luxury saloons is far greater, and it's that direction Bugatti is said to be taking with its next model.

Instead of the 300 units the Veyron managed, Bugatti's new saloon - likely to be called Galibier - is hoped to reach as many as 1,000-1,500 customers.

That's despite an anticipated price in excess of £1m. ...

A unique Pontiac with bodywork created entirely from see-through Plexiglass has sold at an American auction.

The car, built for General Motors' Highways and Horizons pavilion at the 1939-40 New York World Fair, was the first transparent car built in America.

Another sister car was built shortly after, but this original is thought to be the only one left in existence. The transparent car was the result of collaboration between General Motors and Rohm & Haas, the chemical company that h...

Ford's supermini celebrates 35 years, six generations and 15 million sales since it was introduced 1976.

The popular Ford supermini has been in the best-seller charts since it was introduced 35 years ago.

Many names were proposed for Ford's new supermini in the 1970s, with Metro, Tempo and Bravo among those considered alongside Fiesta. Allegedly more board members voted for Bravo than Fiesta, though the final naming was the result of Henry Ford II overruling the board's decision.

A good...

You see some pretty unusual sights on the motorway at times, but none more so than a woman in the USA caught driving with the bonnet of her car up.

The hapless New Hampshire driver was spotted on the interstate driving with her bonnet fully up and lying on the windscreen.

Caught on video by a passing car the driver can be seen ducking low to view the road ahead through a tiny gap at the bottom of the bonnet. She seems oblivious to the danger as she drives at speed down the motorway.

Am...

One of the UK's biggest used car sellers is reporting a huge spike in demand for old bangers.

Auto Trader says that demand for cars worth £1,000 and below is outstripping supply, blaming the financial pressure that families are under for the trend.

With experts predicting that petrol prices are set to reach a new high within days - at a time when thousands are driving up and down the UK on summer holidays - more and more are willing to drive about in a clapped out old motor to keep co...

This is the Mercedes-Benz Vision Pearl Concept, and it's perhaps the most splendiferous van ever created this side of MTV's Pimp My Ride.

It might look like a Transit with posh wheels, but inside it's as luxurious as a millionaire's yacht - it even has wood decking covering the entire floor.

The six-seat van comes with two-tone leather captain's chairs, brushed aluminium trim and a Bang & Olufsen stereo so loud that they'll hear it across the English Channel.

Proper luxury comes in th...

Renault has released the first proper picture of the new Renault Twingo - and it's already dividing opinion.

It's a mid-life update of the current car rather than an all-new one, but as updates go it's about as different as can be; most car manufacturers only tinker very slightly at this stage of a car's life.

But Renault has gone bold, giving the Twingo a complete face transplant - and not one for the fainthearted. Seemingly inspired by the Skoda Yeti, the new face has a separate set...

Land Rover has hinted that a convertible version of the Evoque is in the pipeline.

The controversial decision is thought to be a move to appeal to American customers, where the market for soft-top SUVs is huge.

It's a far cry from Land Rover's traditional rugged, utilitarian image, established by long-standing models like the Defender.

The convertible will be the third body style in the Evoque lineup, following the five- and three-door versions, and will use a cloth hood rather than a fo...

Ferrari is charging through the poor economy with record-breaking sales.

The six months from January to June 2011 have blessed the Italian performance car manufacturer with its highest ever half yearly profits.

The Prancing Horse reaped a €91.8 million (£81 million) in profits between January and June.

It attributes the success to a massive sales surge in China, which has more than doubled compared to the same period in 2010.

The firm has also seen a significant 23 percent leap in Ameri...

Honda has topped a UK reliability table that's almost exclusively made up of Japanese car manufacturers.

The table is based on claim figures from 50,000 car owners across the UK. And while Japanese makers dominate, budget Korean maker Kia continues its astonishing turnaround by being the only non-Japanese entry in the top ten.

At the other end of the scale are the usual French and Italian suspects - and the usual UK one. Land Rover is rock bottom, propping up the table of 35 manufactu...

Famed Porsche tuner RUF has unveiled its latest monster creation, the 750bhp CTR 3. It will hit 236mph and see off 0-62mph in an astonishing 3.2 seconds.

The enormous power output is extracted from a highly tuned 3.8-litre twin-turbo engine. That dwarfs the most powerful production Porsche 911, the 523bhp Turbo S.

The front end is relatively unchanged - despite its deep front bumper - over the 911 donor car, but the back has been completely redesigned to accommodate an engine shift. ...

An enraged Jaguar driver has been jailed for six months after he knocked over a parking warden.

Martin Takle was caught parking in a parent and child bay at a Bristol Asda store, minus the child required to qualify him. Parent and child bays are wider and closer to the store entrance.

Parking warden Jackie Smith issued a £60 fine to tackle Takle's parking misdemeanour, but the furious Jag XJ luxury saloon owner was filmed on CCTV arguing with Ms Smith.

She was filmed talking to Takle...

The AA has slammed the oil industry for 'making a killing' while motorists suffer, as Shell and BP are poised to announce £7.5 billion quarterly profits.

The oil corporations are about to post profits of £1,000 per second between April and June, yet many drivers are being forced to cut down on journeys because of staggering fuel costs.

The current national average price for petrol is 136p per litre, while diesel is 140p. Back in April it seemed that pump prices would reduce dramati...

What is arguably the coolest Rolls-Royce ever is about to be sold by classic car auction specialist Bonhams, and is expected to reach up to $1,000,000 (£600,000).

Like something from Wacky Races, the 1925 Rolls-Royce New Phantom is fitted with a working cannon and machine guns. It was built specially for Sahib Bahadur of India - official title Umed Singh II, Maharaja of Kotah - for the purpose of hunting tigers.

The tiger-hunting Rolls-Royce has a body built by custom coachbuilder Ba...

It takes a maximum of four speeding offences to get an automatic driving ban, yet the average driver speeds an incredible 18,000 times in their lifetime.

New research has revealed some remarkable statistics about the lifetime behind the wheel for the average driver. With motorists often feeling victimised by speed camera-toting police, the stats show that maybe we all need to slow down a little.

Among the other shocking statistics is the number of near misses we'll all have: 81. And ...

Ford has announced that it will drop CD players from its cars altogether because of slumping CD sales and the rise of digital media.

CD sales fell 35 percent in the UK between 2006 and 2010, while the number of album sales increased 700 percent in the same period. CD singles have almost vanished entirely, as 98 percent of singles are now downloaded.

Ford, therefore, sees the CD going the same way as the cassette, and has said it will hasten a move to a digital systems in all its cars...

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport might be the fastest production car in the world, but its paltry 268mph record-breaking run has just been smashed by a 1.3-litre Suzuki.

This Suzuki only has two-wheels, though, and it's turbocharged - which makes it good for more than 300mph.

Rider Bill Warner has just broken the world speed record for a roadworthy vehicle, using the 1299cc Suzuki to hit 311.945mph.

The record, set at the Loring Air Force base in Maine, US, beat Warner's own previous reco...

Kate Middleton, the sister of royal newlywed Kate Middleton, recently returned from her flat to find that her car had been clamped.

She'd parked her £40,000 BMW Z4 sports car on a nearby street in Chelsea, West London, and returned to find that it had been clamped, meaning a hefty fine to have it removed.

However, reports suggest that the 27-year-old may not have much use for the Z4 soon anyway, as she's about to trade it in for an armoured car.

Such is Kate Middleton's sister's pop...

Mercedes' high performance AMG division has revealed its latest model: the SLK 55 AMG.

Impressively, the two-seat sledgehammer is much quicker and more economical than the car it replaces.

The engine, a 5.5-litre V8, has 60bhp more than the current SLK AMG, totalling 415bhp. That's a whole lot of power for a small cabriolet.

It also has an enormous 398lb.ft of torque - over 100lb.ft more than the current quickest SLK, the 350 BlueEfficiency Sport Auto.

That car hits 62mph in just 5.6 s...