Motoring
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Lap of luxury
When William (Bill) Lyons drifted out of sidecars into the first of the cad’s cars of the 1930s, the original SS1 coupe, few people would have believed that the Jaguar name, first applied to the SS100 in 1936, would not only outlive, but nearly...
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Mandatory minimum speed limits
Picture the scene. It is a beautiful sunny day. There are two drivers, one of whom is a handsome young dynamo in a convertible sports car and getting, within socially acceptable boundaries, a bit of a lick on. The other is a doddering old biffer in...
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Third-generation Seat Leon revealed
Seat has released pictures of the all-new Leon, which the company hopes will take the fight to its fast-advancing rivals. At 5 cm shorter than the outgoing model but with a wheelbase almost 6 cm longer, the wheels are noticeably closer to the...
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A drive to remember
The hair on the nape of my neck was suddenly, like a dog’s hackles, upright, and the adrenalin flowed like beer on a hot summer’s day. Zero to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds with the right foot hard down, in an alluringly simple four-door, 4/5-seat Alfa...
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11th win for Audi at 80th Le Mans edition
In recent years, the 24-hour Le Mans race in France has been a contest between Audi and Peugeot in a markedly charged atmosphere, with overtones of German and French national honour entering the picture. Peugeot withdrew from this year’s 80th...
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Football and cars
In 1964 Emanuel Abela bought a Triumph Spitfire, which was his pride and joy for six years, until a number of circumstances forced him to sell it in 1970. In the passage of time, the desire to acquire another Triumph remained dormant owing to other...
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Citroen 2CVs in New York treat
New York fans of the Citroen 2CV get a treat as a convoy of the iconic French car cruiseD through Manhattan in honour of France's Bastille Day holiday. AFP TV reports
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Peugeot-Citroen to slash 8,000 jobs
Struggling French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen has announced a drastic cost-cutting plan to slash 8,000 jobs in France and close a factory north of Paris, as it faces diving sales in crisis-hit southern Europe. Union members vowed to try to fight...
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Champions in road safety campaign
Jamaican Olympic sprint champions, set to be some of the stars of the 2012 Games, are making a special visit to London schoolchildren as part of a global road safety campaign. Beijing 2008 winners including 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce,...
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VW global car sales rise 13.7%
Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car-maker, has reported a 13.7% increase in passenger vehicle sales in June, with booming results outside Western Europe where the debt crisis slowed spending. The company, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, said today that...
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Silverstone chief vows to stay on
Richard Phillips insists he will stay on as Silverstone's managing director with the circuit preparing to count the cost of a rain-hit British Grand Prix weekend. Constant rain on Friday made grass car parks unusable and left lengthy traffic jams...
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Wealthy drivers 'have dirtier cars'
Well-off motorists tend to drive around in dirtier cars, according to an AA/Populus survey conducted in the UK. Only 6% of car owners from professional and managerial backgrounds wash their vehicle once a week, compared with 8.5% for lower-income...
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BMW to invest £250m in three UK Mini factories
BMW is to invest a further £250 million in its three Mini factories in the UK, safeguarding thousands of jobs, the firm has announced. The money will be invested in manufacturing operations by the end of 2015 at the German car maker's plant in...
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Mini Rocketman
NAME: Mini Rocketman Concept DEBUT: London 2012 Olympic Games APPEARANCE: It’s like a set from a 1980s Elton John music video. Futuristic and retro at the same time is not easy to pull off… and yet somehow the Austin Powers-esque finished product...
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Volkswagen finalise takeover of Porsche
VW have said they are on track to finalise the full takeover of sports car manufacturer Porsche by the end of the month. The German car firm said Porsche AG would become another fully-integrated brand of the Volkswagen group as of August 1. The...
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Driver injured in F1 test
An F1 test driver has been seriously injured in a testing accident in Cambridgeshire ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix. The driver involved is thought to be Marussia's Maria De Villota, who was undergoing testing at Duxford Airfield this...
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Mazda moots 205bhp MX-5
Mazda is looking into building a 205bhp version of its rear-wheel-drive MX-5 sports car, almost certainly as a reaction to the immediate success of the Toyota GT-86 and Subaru BRZ. Mazda’s success in GT racing lends itself to a ...
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McLaren releases MP4-12C Spider teaser
McLaren has confirmed it is to build a Spider convertible version of its MP4-12C supercar and released a teaser image. Placing an emphasis on noise, emotion and drama, McLaren also claims the 12C Spider will be "more usable than any car this...
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Warning over leaving dogs in cars
More than 66% of people have seen a dog locked in a car on a sunny day yet over a third did nothing about it, according to a survey in the UK. The Dogs Trust, which carried out the study, has joined forces with the AA and the National Trust to...
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Audi Q3 spreads its wings
A light show highlights the contours of the new Audi Q3 during the local launch of the luxury compact-class SUV in Jakarta today. With the economy growing at a brisk 6.5 percent a year, more Indonesians are climbing into the middle class,...
