BMW Zagato Coupe (2012): first official pictures

This is Zagato's take on a modern Bavarian sports car: the BMW Zagato Coupe, based on the Z4. Handcrafted as a one-off by the famous Milanese coachbuilders, it takes pride of place at the Villa d'Este Concours in Italy. What makes the BMW Zagato Coupe so special?

Mercedes GLA SUV UK launch down a salt mine in Cheshire

The new Mercedes GLA down a salt mine in Cheshire Trying to find an unusual venue for new car launches is something that taxes the brains of car PR teams, and Mercedes came up with somewhere a little left field for the launch of the new GLA Compact SUV – the UK’s biggest salt mine at Winsford in Cheshire. The Winsford Rock Salt Mines – 130 miles of salt mining tunnels running under Cheshire – are the result of salt mining since the 19th century and now comprise of 130 miles of tunnels some 189 metres below ground, a void beneath the earth of 23 million cubic metres. Still a working salt mine, Winsford is also home to a massive storage facility for, among others, the National Archive, where constant temperatures of 14C make for an ideal storage environment.

Spoken street names useful in navigation units, magazine says

If you're in the market for a portable navigation unit, features such as spoken street names and reality view/lane assist are worth the money while traffic information, connected services and voice recognition are not as essential, says Consumer Reports magazine. Less expensive navigation models are even offering the service via which the unit will speak the names of streets or highway numbers rather than telling drivers to merge or turn in a specific direction. Reality view/lane assist is a feature commonly packaged as one that displays three-dimensional views of exits, signs and intersections as well as the best lane to be in for upcoming driving maneuvers.