Is the car-maker's absence an innocent administrative error in the application process, or a more deliberate ploy?

Despite being the world's most famous electric car, there's no sign of the Tesla Roadster today on a government list of nine fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that will be eligible for a £5,000 grant from 1 January. Why? A paperwork error – or so it seems.

As the great Italian marque turns 100, the strikingly attractive Alfa Romeo Giulietta shows no sign of ageing

Price £16,375
MPG 44.1
Top speed 121 mph

This hatchback's not so nifty but who cares when it's so thrifty

Context is all. Earlier this year I drove a black Audi A3 up into the hills of the Cévennes, that area of southern France that acts as a kind of bucolic refuge for Frenchmen and Frenchwomen who never really adapted to the failure of their 1968 dreams. As a consequence, it's a little bit recherché in some of its tastes and outlook. Backward would be a less kind way of putting it.

It may boast self-healing paint, but the new Infiniti FX will need a tough skin if it's to win over the luxury 4x4 market

Price £50,815
MPG 31.4
Top speed 131mph