Councils want part of the fuel duty ring-fenced to pay for pothole repairs, which they have blamed on the rise in larger lorries. The RAC has been campaigning for this for several years but disputes the LGA assumption the damage is due to bigger vehicles and says it's an historic problem and the alternative would be smaller but more lorries leading to … [Read more...]
Tradelines 15 February
Mitsubishi has named its all-new SUV “Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross” before it appears next month at the Geneva motor show. As befits its sharp, coupé-like contours, the Eclipse Cross name references the Eclipse sports car which amassed more than 1.4 million sales, mainly in North America between 1989 and 2012, while also referring to the cross-functional SUV … [Read more...]
Newslines 3 February
Germany's auto industry is losing hope that trade tariffs with the UK can be avoided, several executives have told Reuters, despite warnings from British Prime Minister Theresa May that an overly tough stance on post-Brexit commerce would seriously harm the country's EU partners. " Merkel may force us to walk away from UK profits for the sake of … [Read more...]
BMW & Toyota plans for plants
BMW will build its X1 SUV at a Dutch contract manufacturer that also produces some of the automaker's Mini models. The new X1 production will begin in August at the VDL Nedcar plant in Born, Netherlands, and global markets will be served from here and Regensburg, German plant. Meanwhile, Toyota will add 400 jobs to build more SUVs at one of its US … [Read more...]
Car market is thermometer of UK economy
It has been a year of ups and downs for the economy. The first half of 2016 was dominated by uncertainty in the lead up to the EU Referendum, which caused many businesses to halt investing and hiring until the result of the vote was known. Once the result for Brexit was confirmed, this understandably shook the economy and caused several industries to … [Read more...]
Weekend review: 2016 in the mirror
The relentless rise of Sports Utility Vehicles seems to have dominated discussions among motoring writers, drivers and the industry during 2016 but it was a more familiar family-car which impressed just before the dawn of 2017. Looking back at our testing diary for the year and also the brief opportunities for some first drives in a host of cars, we … [Read more...]
“Right” & “wrong” cars curb house sales
If you're browsing the Sunday papers housing pages today, you could be a victim of a little appreciated fact that over a third of Brits would be put off a property by the cars parked outside. School catchment areas and transport links often come high on the list of factors when choosing a property, but new research shows that over a third (36%) of us … [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 … [Read more...]
Newslines 11 November
Cardiff council is warning of traffic disruption on Saturday. City centre roads will be partially closed for the rugby international in the afternoon and early evening while heavy traffic is expected around the City Stadium for the Wales v Serbia football match Saturday evening. Welsh Government will insist on new rolling stock, with access … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: MINI Seven
MINI's boost in sales this year has been fuelled by the introduction of their Clubman range - their first C-segment MINI followed by the Convertible new range including the recently introduced JCW, or John Cooper Works variant, writes David Miles. The Convertible range now accounts for 10% of total UK MINI sales making it the best selling convertible in … [Read more...]
