Tesla’s aim is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport. They were founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Silicon Valley, California who wanted to prove electric powered cars could be better than petrol ones. Electric power gives instant driving torque, high power and no emissions at the tailpipe. To promote the use of electric power for passenger cars Tesla have … [Read more...]
First Drives
UK sales lift off for Land Rover Discovery Sport
The all-new Land Rover Discovery Sport, has generated close to 4,000 orders in a few months as it replaces the popular Freelander. They are priced from £32,395 to £42,995 with a choice of SE, SE Tech, HSE and HSE Lux specification levels with manual and automatic transmission options. Richard Gavan, product manager for Land Rover said, “We had planned a UK first full year sales target of … [Read more...]
Cosmetic and practical changes to Mazda6 for 2015
Mazda’s solid innings in the UK car sales league continues with another 6. This is not a completely new model but a facelifted version of the saloon and tourer which brought them about 8,000 UK sales last year and is expected deliver the same in 2015. Mazda has created new front end styling and fitted light emitting diodes on top versions while the rear gets new styling treatment and between … [Read more...]
Every little helps sell Celerio
Every little helps if you are Suzuki and launching a new family small car called Celerio. In an unprecedented move for Britain’s 22nd ranked marque, Suzuki will promote the newcomer through major Tesco stores. The Thailand-made newcomer replaces the Alto and Splash models using some clever value for money technology underneath and Suzuki hope to sell 6,000 Celerio models in 2015. Suzuki … [Read more...]
Third generation Skoda Fabia hits the road
The New Year has started well for Skoda, the 119 year old Czech manufacturer now part of the Volkswagen Group. Last yeat it achieved an all time record global sales of 1.04million vehicles in 2014, an increase of 12.7%. In the UK it was also another record year, their fifth consecutive one, with over 75,448 new car sales, an increase of 14.2% over 2013 and double their registrations of five … [Read more...]
VW Passat rises to the challenge
Driving on your mirror takes on a whole new meaning in some of the new Volkswagen Passat models arriving in dealerships this month. At launch, the UK buyers will get only diesel engines comprising 120PS 1.6, 150 or 190PS 2.0 litre and 240PS bi-turbo 2.0 wit DSG transmission and 4Motion all-wheel-drive. A low emissions 1.6 BlueMotion petrol producing 95gkm arrives in June and the following … [Read more...]
Revised Jaguar F-Type opens anniversary year
This will be a very important year for Jaguar. It is their 80th anniversary and will see the introduction of the new lightweight aluminium XE sport four-door saloon into the all-important C-sector dominated by company car customers and fleet sales. With its high spec, low emission and low taxation potential the XE powered by new British built engines will compete against the Audi A4, BMW 3 … [Read more...]
High-tech new Audi TT heading to showrooms
The UK is the largest market in the world for Audi TT sales, well ahead of Germany and the USA and the first models in the third generation will soon be arriving in this country. Last year UK sales were around 6,500 units. Audi no longer gives the media sales forecasts despite their successive record years of sales. They did say at the media launch for the new TT Coupe they expect to … [Read more...]
More practical new MINI 5-door on sale today
The new MINI 5-door is on sale today from £14,350 to £20,050, each £600 more than their equivalent 3-Door Hatch version. Of the all-new three and five door Hatch models the 3-Door Hatch is expected to still appeal to 60% of UK customers due to its heritage, price and size. This could change in the longer term as it is usual in this ‘supermini’ sector for five door models to be more popular … [Read more...]
New Vauxhall Corsa raises its game
The new Vauxhall Corsa is altogether smoother with the latest three-cylinder one-litre engine under its bonnet. Introduced in the Adam Rocks this summer, the 90PS and 115PS triple is matched to a standard six-speed manual gearbox in this fourth generation Corsa which followed on from the original Nova in 1982 and is due on UK roads early in 2015. Corsa is an immensely important car for … [Read more...]