Motoring Matters

Tragic events in Japan impact car production

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Japan is counting the cost to the motor industry after the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

The countries largest car manufacturer Toyota has confirmed that it has suspended it’s Japanese vehicle production until at least 22 March. Nissan is still in the process of repairing plants throughout Japan and the firm’s lwaki engine plant in Fukushima is still suffering from aftershocks.

Nissan have also announced they plan to donate 400,000,000 yen (£3million) to the relief effort, along with 50 vehicles to help support rescue.

Honda has suspended activity at all their plants until 20 March and have also pledged 300,000,000 yen (£2.3million) to relief and also provided 1000 generators.

Motor sport in the country has also been affected with the Japanese MotoGP postponed until further notice.

Possible WRC entry for VW

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:49:00 +0000

It is rumoured that VW will enter a car in the 2012 WRC championship.

The confirmation is expected to take place either at an event to celebrate its hat trick of wins in the Dakar rally on March 22, or at the start of rally Portugal, which runs from the 24-27 March.

Volkswagen could join Citroen, Ford and newcomers MINI in a limited campaign this year. Its thought Volkswagen have been working with the likes of rally driver Carlos Sainz and Francois-Xavier Demaison, who will be hired as the team’s chief engineer.

Read more: Auto Express

UK's most expensive Cinquecento?

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:05:08 +0000

The Car, that has starred in all three series of the hit channel 4 comedy, The Inbetweeners, is being sold on ebay.

Bidding on the fiat, which most recently featured in the ‘Rude Road Trip’, a one off for Comic Relief, started at £50 and had reached £5,100 by Friday evening.

Cincequentos of a similar age would usually sell for no more than £400.

Personal injury claims pushing up insurance costs

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:10:34 +0000

Personal injury claims are to cause a 30 percent annual rise in the price of motor insurance.

Although the number of accidents are falling and car safety is at an all time high, the number of personal injury claims, and people seeking compensation are rising.

Evidence presented by the EMB suggests that these claims are fuelling dearer premiums resulting in an expected annual percentage rise in motor insurance.

Hybrid for Toyota

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:43:06 +0000

Toyota will focus on hybrid vehicles in order to push for Global sales of 10 million by 2015 as part of a new “global vision”.

The company dropped to a first ever loss in 2008 and was afterwards plagued with technical issues which caused over seven million cars to be recalled worldwide.

Toyota wants ten more hybrid vehicles by 2015.

UK 'relying too heavily' on sat-navs

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:37:58 +0000

UK ‘relying too heavily’ on sat-navs

Report by the Royal Academy of Engineers revealed that the UK is ‘dangerously dependant’ on GPS satellite navigation systems.

A study found that sat-navs often come with inadequate back up and there is equipment available to illegally jam systems.

The Global Navigation Space System affects all methods of travel including road, rail and shipping equipment and it’s thought a system failure could lead to serious accidents.

Trees could be alternatives to speed cameras

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:50:12 +0000

A study by the Department for Transport found that trees are as effective as speed cameras at slowing traffic down.

Councils are being urged to plant rows of trees as a traffic calming scheme, after a trial in Norfolk found this had a dramatic impact on motorists behaviour.

The experiment in the villages of Overstrand, Martham, Coltishall and Mundersley found that overall average speeds fell by 1.5 per cent and there was a 20 per cent drop in motorists driving at 40 to 60mph because of the cut in their peripheral vision.

Triumph for motorists as CO2 parking scheme ditched

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:57:53 +0000

Richmond, the first UK Council to launch the CO2-linked residents parking permits, has officially scrapped the scheme.

Richmond Council, dubbed ‘the Council that hates cars’, launched the scheme three years ago which forced motorists with bigger engines to pay more for their parking permits.

It has been hailed as a triumph for motorists by the AA, as fees of up to £750 were expected for families with 2 ‘high polluting cars’.

Thanks to the Conservatives, who campaigned heavily against ‘fanatical hostility to the family car’, the scheme has been scrapped.

Growing fury as petrol price reaches £1.40 per litre

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:20:45 +0000

Campaign group Fare Fuel UK, last night warned of a fuel price ‘crisis’, as the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol rose to £1.40 at a BP Garage in Kent.

It makes a substantial difference to last month’s average price of £1.28 and the instability in the Middle East could see fuel prices rise to a record high of £2.00 per litre.

Chancellor George Osborne signalled he was ready to ease the pressure on motorists by dropping the increase in fuel duty in his Budget later this month.

New look for Skoda

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:47:19 +0000

Skoda Auto has unveiled a cool new look at the Geneva motorshow alongside a concept of the new Octavia. The sleek looking new logo for the manufacturer coincides with an overhaul of the dealer network, which will undergo a facelift over the coming months.

Full Story: Honest John

Mission iPossible Drives BMW On

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:21:27 +0000

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

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:10:55 +0000

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

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:59:25 +0000

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.

MINI Rocketman Concept Lifts Off

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:30:00 +0000

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).

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

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:32:51 +0000

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

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:29:05 +0000

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

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:50:59 +0000

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

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:28:48 +0000

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

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:24:39 +0000

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

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:17:19 +0000

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.