In two days time on Thursday the 5th of February 2012, the coveted New York International Auto Show will commence and at the same time, the winners of the 2012 World Car of the Year and the 2012 World Performance Car awards will be announced. A panel of 66 international motoring journalists from Asia, Europe, North America, South America and other places around the globe was set the task of producing a shortlist of 10 cars, from which the 2012 World Car of the Year winner would be chosen. The judges came up with their top 10 nominees as follows… World Car of the Year 2012 Nominees: Audi A6  [...]

British Car Auctions (BCA) has released a new report which concludes that the supply of LCVs (light commercial vehicles) is drying up, and this may have a negative affect on small businesses in the UK. Professor Cooke, the main author behind the report, states that the two main factors behind the dwindling supply of light commercial vehicles (vans, basically) are that companies are increasingly keeping their fleet vehicles for longer durations and servicing them more whilst changing them less, and at the same time, new van sales are slowing quite significantly, meaning less used vans hit the  [...]

Skoda have produced some really great cars over the last few years, from the rugged and fearless Yeti and the popular Fabia to the elegant Skoda Superb saloon and Combi (estate). And another Skoda is set to be let loose in spring 2012. It will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show beforehand and will be available for test drives and reviews by journalists and the media in February 2012. The Skoda Citigo is a 5-door subcompact car, a segment Skoda is shrewd to enter into, as many people downsize and want tiny, economical cars for city life. Spanish manufacturer SEAT recently dipped their own  [...]

Whatever your thoughts on the BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupé’s unusual design, with a rear end which some say looks rather squashed, the BMW X6 has certainly sold very well (150,000 in three years to be precise), perhaps unexpectedly. It’s fairly easy to understand why, as it blends the off-road ability, road presence and on-road performance and handling of the superb X5 with a sportier, sleeker, coupe-like look. BMW is launching a revised X6 in spring 2012, which will be shown off in Munich beforehand. The facelift will mainly affect the X6 in visual terms, with improvements to the front  [...]

You’ve got to doth your cap to Jaguar! They’ve done it again, with BusinessCar magazine awarding the Jaguar XF the Executive Car Of The Year award for 2012. Making this award even more special is the fact that it’s voted for by real-life business/company car drivers, not just some road testing journalists. So they really are voting for the XF based on experience. And incidentally, on the very same day they received this crown, Jaguar announced that two new models are to be added to the line-up of Jaguar XF cars. These new model specifications are called the Sport and the ‘SE  [...]

Jeep’s sales have risen to over 60% in Europe compared to 2010 – impressive stuff! While the car industry has been in decline in general terms in many ways during the current recession, Jeep has been steadily improving sales and bucking the trend. This may come as a surprise but Jeep’s main sales increases were in Germany with a massive 124% rise, followed closely by Italy with 117.6%. Although we didn’t have the exact sales figures to hand in terms of units sold, we can only assume this is good news and a start of better things to come for the mighty and historic Jeep  [...]

For fans of the most recent model and also those of you who were besotted by the original Twingo, which for quite some time remained a secret best known by folk who holidayed in France, you’ll be glad to know that Renault are bringing out a new Twingo, which will go on sale in the UK next month (February 2012). If even a few days is too long to wait, you can test drive a new Twingo earlier, at certain Renault dealerships, if you manage to book yourself into an available slot. Price wise, the new Renault Twingo Dynamique 1.2 16V 75 will cost £10,350 on-the-road. Featuring Renault’s latest  [...]

‘Hang on, you’ve misspelt it!’, you may be thinking. But you’re wrong. We’re not focusing on the concept of infinite time and space without limits – the Infiniti we’re interested in is the luxury car brand, who have treated the UK market to some rather special vehicles since they introduced themselves here fairly recently. And 2012 and 2013 are set to be even bigger, more important years for the company, with some very exciting new car launches scheduled. If you’re still not sure who Infiniti are, they are the luxury division of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan – rather like  [...]

Renault and Nissan have welcomed plans by the government, to extend plug-in grants to car buyers in the UK. The grant already included £5000 off the List Price of the world’s first 100% mass-produced electric car, the Nissan Leaf, which has been on sale in the UK since 2011 and enjoying such accolades as European Car of the Year 2011. With a real-world-tested range of 109 Miles (Nedc), a charge time of 0-80% in 30 minutes and a top speed of 90mph, the Nissan Leaf was never going to nor was intended to set the world alight with its performance, but until now Nissan hasn’t had much  [...]

Everyone knows you can’t be a petrolhead until you’ve owned an Alfa as quoted by legendary wire-haired superstar Jeremy Clarkson. It’s so true that Alfa Romeo may not be the first car on everybody’s lips when searching for a second hand used car, especially when there is so much choice from German competition. But on the used market the Alfa is king largely due to heavy depreciation and people’s perception of unreliability. In the real world though, the Alfa Romeo 159 is such a used bargain, you’d be mad not to consider one, in the opinion of Oliver our blog and  [...]