Thierry Neuville vaulted from fifth to second in the FIA World Rally Championship standings on Sunday after clinching a long-awaited victory at Rally Italia Sardegna. Belgian star Neuville headed i20 N partner Esapekka Lappi by 33.0sec in a dream 1-2 finish for Hyundai at round six of 13, scoring his 18th career success alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. The result served as a maiden 2023 … [Read more...]
Car sales slowly rising again
The momentum in new vehicle sales has continued with strong growth across electric vehicles, hybrids and petrol vehicles and is expected to continue through the summer months, said Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association. In May, a total of 145,204 new cars were registered, an increase of 16.7% from the same period last year, according to the Society of Motor … [Read more...]
Car makers push fleet & business sales
The UK new car market recorded its ninth successive month of growth in April, with an 11.6% increase to reach 132,990 registrations, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The performance marks the best April since 2021’s 141,583 units but remains -17.4% down on 2019 volumes. Large fleet registrations grew by a third (33.1%) to 68,537 units as the … [Read more...]
Newslines 2 May
Aston Martin Works is announcing the availability for the first time in decades of new major components, including gearboxes and engine blocks, for some of the brand’s most iconic sports cars. Working with trusted suppliers the team at the heritage home of the world-renowned British car maker has developed entirely new engine blocks, cylinder heads, gearboxes and other major components – all … [Read more...]
Tesla tops ev searches in UK
A new study conducted by electric leasing company Gridserve has revealed the most sought after electric vehicles in the United Kingdom, as well as the electric vehicles most likely to soar in popularity over the next year. Using Google Search data spanning over a year, GRIDSERVE analysed average monthly search data for over 300 electric vehicle models in the 20 most populous cities in the UK, … [Read more...]
From pride to fall and now future collectable
Once an owner's pride & joy, some familiar models are now destined to become future collectables. While arguably not in the same league as classics, there are a number of cars which will jog memories of their good and bad points and a sweep through the DVLA records in Swansea by Confused.com insurance has turned up a few surprises. The 10 car models that have seen the biggest … [Read more...]
Craig Breen dies in rally test session
World Rally Championship driver Craig Breen has died following crash testing for next week’s Rally Croatia. The factory Hyundai driver went off the road during a team test on asphalt roads in Croatia today and succumbed to injuries but co-driver James Fulton was unharmed in the crash. The 33-year-old Irishman finished second at Rally Sweden in February which marked his first WRC start of … [Read more...]
New car sales slowly rising
The first quarter of 2023 has been positive for UK new vehicle sales, said Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association. “It is extremely encouraging to see sales figures starting to emulate pre-pandemic trends, particularly for the plate change month of march and consecutive months of optimism and growth,” she said, commenting on the latest SMMT’s new passenger … [Read more...]
KIA is king say dealers but PSA are pitiful
Kia is the highest rated marque by dealers in their annual showroom and business survey while PSA Group companies were among the lowest. The all-important question ‘how would you rate your manufacturer overall on a scale of 1 to 10?’ returned an average of 6.5, on par with six months ago. Kia (9.3), Lexus (9.2), and Mini (8.8) were the top performers whilst Vauxhall (3.7), Jaguar (3.7), and … [Read more...]
Rally Sweden test for WRC teams this weekend
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team aim to continue their record of success on the snow and ice of Rally Sweden when round two of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship takes place this week. Sweden was the scene of the team’s first victory, in 2017, when Jari-Matti Latvala – now Team Principal – claimed a shock win in TGR’s second WRC outing. Since then, the team have won three times in the last … [Read more...]