As car makers look for new ways to differentiate their products, they must think carefully before allowing tech giants Apple and Google to dominate their customers’ experiences, says vehicle connectivity pioneer VNC Automotive. With electric vehicles gaining in popularity, opportunities for car manufacturers to create distinguishing features and engineer-in character are diminishing. Component … [Read more...]
Newslines 9 February
A £750M bus and train network in South Wales will be marginally delayed from 2023, due to implications of coping with the Coronavirus crisis. Transport for Wales was nationalised after passenger numbers collapsed last year and operator Keolis-Amey couldn’t make it pay and Welsh Government has pumped in £167M to keep the public transport services running. The reported deal with Korea’s Hyundai … [Read more...]
Tradelines 13 January
From March 2021 production, all Citroën Grand C4 SpaceTourer PureTech 3-cylinder petrol automatic variants have CO2 emissions reduced by 3g/km. Efficiency gains lead to reduced road tax (VED) charges resulting in an overall on the road price reduction of £285, qualifying models will benefit from a new high-efficiency alternator and an enhanced battery and Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) taxation bands see … [Read more...]
Newslines 22 December
The Welsh Government will allocate £20 Million next year for more cycleways. Its Active Travel investment is in addition to £274.7M for Transport for Wales rail and metro services. Public Health Wales said 352 cases of Covid-19 were identified at the DVLA centre at Swansea since September. Sixty-two cases have been identified at the call centre since the beginning of December … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Vauxhall Viva Rocks 1.0
The greatest challenge to any car designer is getting the most of what you are given, and when Vauxhall’s team wanted to create a very compact SUV they looked to the Viva. The original Viva was a boxy saloon built in Ellesmere Port, now home of the Astra, from 1963 to 1979 and that spawned what you might call an SUV – a Services Utility Vehicle. Better known as the Bedford HA van it was a … [Read more...]
Facial recognition unlocks new opportunity for cars
The prospect of looking at your car and opening it is becoming a reality. Insurance specialist Rias has conducted research in to patents filed over the past two years by the world’s leading car manufacturers, giving us an insight in to what the future of driving may look like. Imagining a world with driverless cars seemed the stuff of dreams only a decade ago, however thanks to Artificial … [Read more...]
Newslines 9 June
A new top of the range MG3 Style+ is now available until 30 June for an initial deposit of just £189, followed by 60 monthly payments of £189. The impressive finance offer launched by MG Motor UK is interest free, with no balloon payment at the end of the agreement and the MG3 Style+ features an upgraded interior that now comes with a leather trim as standard,16” ‘Diamond’ alloy wheels, cruise … [Read more...]
Newslines 22 April
Primary schools in Wales now have the opportunity to receive free support from a leading walking and cycling charity to get more pupils on their bikes and scooters. Funded by Welsh Government and delivered by Sustrans Cymru, Active Journeys supports schools to get more children travelling actively, helping to increase their activity levels and improve their health and wellbeing. With the … [Read more...]
Newslines 4 April
Mazda MX-5 RF has won the “Best of the Best” prize at the 2017 Red Dot product design awards for its KODO – Soul of Motion styling. The unique two-seater retractable fastback thereby duplicates the success of its fourth-generation MX-5 soft-top sibling, which took away the same award for outstanding product design in 2015. Toyota is recalling a total of about 2.9 million vehicles in Japan, … [Read more...]
Newslines 6 December
Tolls to cross the Severn bridges will increase in the New Year. From 1 January cars and motor caravans will pay £6.70 - up 10p - while tolls for small goods vehicles and small buses will rise by 20p to £13.40 and heavy goods vehicles will become £20 a time. BBC Wales, Llandaff site will become a 400-home development after the broadcaster moves to the centre of the city in two years. The … [Read more...]