May 23, 2012

Car News

 

Car News from all around the world. Updated as the news happens for the car industry in the UK, Europe, the US and around the globe.

 


 

Saab: Could Spyker restart production of the Saab 9-5?

Saab 9-5 Spyker

The key to the future of Saab is possibly the right to manufacture the Saab 9-5. Could that bring Spyker and Victor Muller back? It’s now almost three months since bidding by prospective saviours of Saab ended, yet we’re still waiting for a decision from the administrators as to which company is the preferred bidder. From an [...]

Renault Alpine A110-50 at Monaco? Possibly, but surely this isn’t it.

Renault Alpine A110-50 Monaco 2012

The rumour mill says Renault will revive Alpine with a tribute to the A110 – the Alpine A110-50. But the photo doing the rounds surely isn’t it. The rumours that Renault would revive the Alpine badge to bolt on a new performance car in 2012 have been rife for some time, especially as 2012 is [...]

Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Sanction II fetches £1.23 million

Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Sanction II Sold

The continuation of the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato – the Sanction II cars – hits a new price peak of £1.23 million at Bonhams Aston Martin Sale. Last month we reported that one of just four Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Sanction II Coupés was up for grabs at Bonhams Aston Martin Sale at Newport Pagnell and [...]

Now it’s the turn of Hyundai to take a swipe at GM’s marketing

Hyundai GM Super Bowl

With the news that General Motors are to pull out of Super Bowl advertising Hyundai steps up to tell GM they’re wrong. It’s really not been GM’s week. Last week they came out and told the world that ads on Facebook aren’t worth the advertising cost and that they were pulling their spend from the [...]

Abarth 695 Maserati Edition costs £32,000

Abarth 695 Maserati Edition

The Abarth 695 Maserati Edition – a.k.a. Edizione Maserati – will cost £32,000 when it arrives in the UK at the end of 2012. Having churned out a tribute to Ferrari with the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari, Fiat (we should say Abarth, to be technically correct) revealed the Abarth 695 Tributo Maserati at the Geneva Motor [...]

2013 Range Rover Sport revealed

2013 Range Rover Sport

Land Rover has revealed a slightly tweaked version of the Range Rover Sport for the 2013 MY. No, this isn’t the ‘New’ Range Rover Sport, the one we expect to be based on a cut-down version of the 2013 Range Rover. Instead, this is the last hurrah for the current Range Rover Sport with its underpinnings stolen [...]

MOT test scrapped for Classic Cars

MOT Classic Cars

The Department for Transport has announced it is scrapping MOT tests for cars registered before 1960. In a move that probably won’t make much difference to owners – but will at least cut down on red tape – the Department of Transport has announced that from 18th November 2012 owners of cars registered before 1960 will no longer require an annual [...]

2012 Kia cee’d on sale from £14,395

2012 Kia cee'd

The latest 2012 version of the Kia cee’d goes on sale in the UK on June 1st priced from £14,395 to £23,795. As expected after the 2012 Kia ce’d debuted at the Geneva motor show in March, the new cee’d is going on sale from 1st June. The ‘old’ Kia cee’d moved the bar a lot higher [...]

New Lexus RX 450h Facelift costs from £44,495

2012 Lexus RX 450h F Sport

The 2012 facelift for the hybrid SUV Lexus RX 450h will cost from £44,495, with the new RX 450h F Sport costing £51,995. The Geneva Motor Show in March was the debut for the facelift of the 2012 Lexus SUV offering – the RX 450h – with a new, sharper, sportier option added to the [...]

New Mercedes A Class to spawn electric version made by Tesla

New Mercedes A Class EV

It would appear that Mercedes-Benz are planning an electric version of the new Mercedes A Class with a powertrain by Tesla. The new Mercedes A Class arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March as the Mercedes answer to the BMW 1 Series, and a very convincing new A Class it looks too. From an [...]

MINI John Cooper Works Range gets a new engine

MINI JCW new engines

MINI has had a play and a tweak with the 1.6 litre turbo engine in the MINI John Cooper Works Range to make it more appealing. The Geneva Motor Show this year saw the debut of the latest MINI JCW – the MINI Countryman John Cooper Works – and with it output figures we though [...]

Land Rover Defender 110: The Lego Edition

Land Rover Defender Lego

A Lego building genius called Sheepo has built a perfect scale version of a Land Rover Defender 110 out of Lego. And it works. The odd ‘Castle’ or maybe an intricate wall was probably as far as any of us ever got with Lego, but a Lego building master calling himself Sheepo has put together [...]

Audi e-bike glides in to Worthersee

Audi e-bike

The Audi e-bike – a high-end pedalec – has been revealed at Worthersee and designed for sport, fun and tricks. If you’re going to make any form of transport work with an electric motor, then it’s really only sensible to make the EV bit just one part of the equation. That’s why range-extender cars are [...]

Mercedes wants to help you fall asleep at the wheel

Mercedes Active Comfort

Mercedes are working on an Active Comfort System to help fatigued drivers take a power nap with aromas and massage inducing sleep. The Mercedes Attention Assist is designed to warn drivers when their driving is becoming a bit erratic as they get tired and lose concentration, with its little coffee cup symbol now proliferating across instrument panels [...]

Ford Mondeo ECOnetic averages 101mpg from Helsinki to Oslo

Ford Mondeo ECOnetic Economy Record

A Ford Mondeo ECOnetic has averaged 101.25mpg on a 1576 mile drive from Helsinki to Oslo, a new European record. The official fuel economy figures car makers quote are, to a great extent, the stuff of fiction; designed to deliver the best possible results in official testing but with little relevance to the real world. [...]

Bentley SUV to enter 2013 Dakar Rally

Bentley SUV Dakar

Bentley are planning to enter their new SUV – the EXP 9F Concept – in the Dakar Rally in 2013. Sort of. It’s a tried and tested route for the VW Group to go with SUV’s : Enter them in to a gruelling rally to prove their capabilities and enhance their sale prospects. The Porsche [...]

New Mercedes B-Class F-CELL in 2014 – more hydrogen cars planned

Mercedes B-Class F-CELL Lease

Mercedes-Benz are planning to launch a hydrogen powered fuel cell version of the new B Class in 2014, with a larger fuel cell car also planned. The Mercedes B Class F-Cell – an electric car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell to charge the batteries – is already available for lease in Southern California, albeit at a [...]

Volkswagen Polo R WRC Street previews production VW Polo R

Volkswagen Polo R WRC Street

The Volkswagen Polo R WRC Street that’s heading for the Worthersee Tour previews a production model of the VW Polo R. This time last year Ulrich Hackenberg, a VW Board member, confirmed that VW intended to build a production Polo R, and the Volkswagen Polo R WRC Street that’s arrived at the Worthersee Tour this week gives us [...]

Toyota GT 86 gets 320bhp from turbo & S/C upgrade

Gazoo GT 86 Sport FR Concept

Toyota’s Gazoo Racing has taken the standard Toyota GT 86 and added a turbo and a supercharger to give the GT 86 320bhp. The Toyota GT86 has managed to deliver almost what we expected now it’s finally arrived, although many have been a bit disappointed at its peaky performance and lack of out and out [...]

Supercar Video Test: LFA vs McLaren vs Aventador vs Veyron

Supercar Shoot Out Video

Automobile Magazine pits the McLaren MP4-12C against the Lexus LFA & Lamborghini Aventador and that against the Bugatti Veyron. If you’re going to do a supercar shoot out it helps to have some of the best metal on the planet top play with. And that’s exactly what Automobile Magazine’s Jason Cammisa managed with an empty runway at his [...]

Jaguar F-Type spied testing – and it’s a 5.0 litre V8

Jaguar F-Type V8

The Jaguar F-Type has been spotted out testing ahead of a launch in 2013, and it’s a range-topping 5.0 litre V8. It’s a bit difficult to say the Jaguar F-Type has been ‘Spied’ testing when Jaguar has already been happy to supply us with their very own ‘Spy’ photos of the new F-Type. But this [...]

Vauxhall: Ellesmere Port plant saved – 700 new jobs created

Vauxhall Ellesmere Port

General Motors is to keep Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port open, move to three shift working and create 700 new jobs. The overcapacity of mainstream car manufacture in Europe as the market becomes ever more polarised between premium and budget cars – squeezing the middle – means car maker having to rationalise their output. Many thought that could [...]

Peugeot 207 CC and 308 CC Roland Garros Special Editions

Peugeot 207 CC and 308 CC Roland Garros

Peugeot – an official sponsor of the French Open – has revealed Roland Garros Special editions of the 308CC and 207CC. There’s nothing like a special edition to move a few cars – especially when they’re nearing the end of their shelf life – and even better if you can tie in a bit of [...]

Fiat Photo Bombs VW on Google Street View

Fiat Photo Bombs VW

Fiat has managed to park a Fiat 500 right outside VW’s Swedish HQ just as Google Street View cameras pass by. Regular readers may remember Top Gear’s Stig turning up on Google Street View a few years ago as the PR team at the BBC managed to park his Stigness in front of various landmarks [...]