Motoring Matters

Mission iPossible Drives BMW On

This is BMW’s sensational new electric car which offers supercar performance and nearly 90mpg. Tom Cruise will drive the electric/diesel hybrid i8 in new Mission Impossible film The Ghost Protocol.

And it will go on sale in 2013 as part of a radical brand of BMW electric/hybrid cars. The brand, launched this week in Munich, will be called BMWi - with the first models an electric city car, the BMW i3, and the high-performance i8 coupé.

Read more: The Sun
Image from Popsci.com

Car buyers not put off by the economic climate

Despite the economic downturn, increases in unemployment and budget cuts; new car broker ‘Drive the Deal’ has found buyers are spending more on their cars. The research found that more was spent on new vehicles in the last 6 months of 2010 than the average for the whole year.

Full story: Honest John 

Classic Rusting Car Found In Jungle Sells For £20K

A rusting car wreck rescued from the jungle in Borneo has fetched £20,000 at auction after being lovingly restored. Snakes were living in the abandoned classic MG when engineer Michael Standen found it while working in the Far East in 1969.

Even though jungle vines were growing through the windows and chunks of the car were missing, it was love at first sight for Michael. He borrowed a truck to tow it out of the dense undergrowth for the first stage of a 7,000 mile journey back to Britain.

Read more: Daily Express

Image: lagondoweddingcars.co.uk

MINI Rocketman Concept Lifts Off

The most frequently heard complaint about the BMW MINI is that it’s not actually very mini these days. The company’s latest concept, called the Rocketman, aims to address this, almost recreating the exterior dimensions of the original 1959 Alec Issigonis design in a package fit for modern motoring.

Due to be unveiled at next week’s Geneva motor show, the Rocketman Concept is a 3.4-metre long, three-plus-one seater built around a carbon spaceframe (visible between the front wheels and the doors).

Read more from The Independent

Image from news.drive.com.au

Potholes: Councils get extra £100m to fix winter damage

The government is to inject an extra £100m into road maintenance and repair throughout the UK following the one of the harshest winters in recent years. Potholes have become a major concern for motorists, damaging vehicles and causing dangerous driving as many drivers swerve across the roads to avoid them.

However, campaigners are saying the cash injection is not enough and that the overall budget is actually being severely reduced over a four year period.

Full Story: BBC News Online

Nine out of ten parking tickets quashed

More than 8million parking tickets are issued every year in the UK with over half of that figure coming from London. However, a new survey has actually found that 9 out of 10 appeals are successful which has risen from two thirds in 2009.

The research, complied by Which? has questioned whether tickets are being issued correctly in the first place after so many appeals are now being successful.

Full Story: Daily Mail 

Cars Give Economy Jump-Start

THE UK motor industry is driving a manufacturing revival that is creating thousands of jobs.

The UK now has one of the most efficient motoring industries in the world, with Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Aston Martin once again highly sought after cars across the globe. New figures yesterday showed production at British car plants was up by 8.9 per cent in January - and a large number of the 110,179 cars built that month were exported to meet demand in countries such as China and America.

Full story: The Sun

Image from autoexpress.co.uk

Porsche celebrates 1,000,000 Facebook fans

To celebrate reaching a million Facebook fans, Porsche have unveiled a 911 GT3 Hybrid with a special Facebook themed wrap, featuring names of 27,000 of their fans from the social networking site.

Full Story: Auto Express

The Highest Celebrity Speeders

MSN Cars have pulled together a list of celebrity speeders following the news that Newcastle United Captain, Kevin Nolan, has been banned from the roads for 60 days after being caught speeding at 65mph through a 30mph zone in his Range Rover.

The list of celebrities with a heavy right foot includes racing drivers, singers, footballers, and presenters.

Image from: Telegraph.co.uk

Celebrating 100 Years Of Rolls-Royce’s Famous Bonnet

Red Cross, Statue of Liberty, dove of peace: in their startlingly different styles, these symbols conjure a veritable picture library of powerful images for the viewer. And while it would be crass to claim that any commercial logo is imbued with quite that resonance, perhaps there is one almost as well known: no, not the dreaded “golden arch” of McDonald’s, nor even the interlocking “CC” of Coco Chanel, but the Spirit of Ecstasy – a mascot adorning the bonnet of the world’s finest motor car.

Recently, Rolls-Royce marked the centenary of Charles Robinson Sykes’s design, a universally recognised motif for superiority and luxury, by organising a parade through London. 

Read more: The Telegraph

Image from flickr.com