Car sales in Wales last month rocketed over 6,750%, the biggest jump in mainland Britain, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Only Northern Ireland exceeded this leap in 12 months when showrooms recorded 13,629% rise. Scotland saw a 5,686 jump but English dealers trailed with just under 3,000%. Last month, total UK new registrations reached 141,109 cars compared to 4,205 some 12 … [Read more...]
Electric car sales surge, but Wales sees big loss
Electric car sales are charging ahead on British roads. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show ev registrations hit a record and hybrid sales last month were higher than September 2020, the previous best for the dual fuel vehicles. It's also the first month that the Tesla Model 3 EV, pictured above, has been officially recognised in the figures after Tesla withdrew … [Read more...]
Hybrid rally cars agreed for WRC from next season
All three current WRC manufacturers have embraced the sport’s exciting new hybrid era by committing to register and participate in the FIA World Rally Championship from 2022 to 2024. Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Toyota have pledged their futures to the production car-based series, which will undergo a landmark change in 2022 when top tier cars will be powered by a mix of an electric motor and the … [Read more...]
Newslines 23 March
SEAT want to build an electric battery plant outside Barcelona to supply a new city car for the company in 2025 at a rumoured £17,000. The plant will be built with Spanish and EU funds and probably supply other small cars in the VW Group. Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese carmakers are assessing the impact production after a fire at a Renesas Electronics chip plant in north-east … [Read more...]
Dealers happy with manufacturers relationships
It is positive that despite the significant disruption faced over the past twelve months, dealers are on average fairly satisfied with the relationship with their respective manufacturers, said Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association. Average levels of dealer satisfaction with the support received through the pandemic by respective manufacturers remained … [Read more...]
Obituary: Hannu Mikkola 1942 – 2021
Finland's Hannu Mikkola, who died on 26 February aged 78, was one of the most successful and versatile international rally drivers during a 31-year career in a variety of cars from Volvo PV544 to state-of-the-art Group B Audi S1 and a few others in between, writes Ken Davies. Born 24 May 1942 at Joensuu, Finland, like many Scandinavian drivers of his period, Hannu started competing in a Volvo … [Read more...]
Chiller thriller for WRC crews this week
Three days of Arctic WRC action puts drivers’ skills to the test this week. The plans are for the Rovaniemi round of the WRC to be driven as a three-day event: the action starts on Friday 26 February with a shakedown in the morning. The first special stages of the rally proper will be driven on Friday evening and the competition continues on Saturday 27 February with three stages that will all … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Suzuki Swace, SZ-T
The Suzuki Swace hybrid 5-door mid-sized estate is the second recent model to join the Suzuki range from their partnership with Toyota formed in 2019, writes David Miles. Toyota also manufacture the Across large-ish Plug-in-Hybrid SUV which is based on the new RAV4 PHEV. The addition of Swace and Across models to the Suzuki range means all Suzuki models throughout their line-up are hybrids and … [Read more...]
Evans begins bid for 2021 WRC crown this week
As the first round of this year's WRC gets underway today in Monte Carlo, the FIA World Rally Championship revealed it will venture into the Arctic Circle for the first time next month after WRC Promoter added Arctic Rally Finland to the 2021 calendar. The all-new snow and ice event will be based in Rovaniemi on 26 - 28 February and replaces the cancelled Rally Sweden as the WRC’s only pure … [Read more...]
Rare and rarer & ready to be picked up for peanuts
There are some of Britain’s true automotive gems. And we don’t mean the obvious one-offs and models that were launched so long ago there are only one or two left. Where’s the fun in that? CarleaseSpecialOffers said you might think Ferrari owners enjoy exclusivity, but you’d be wrong. Sort of. Even the Ferrari 812 Superfast – a 6.5-litre, 789bhp grand tourer – isn’t as rare as the Fiat … [Read more...]
