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Cadillac CTS-V ‘sets saloon Nurburgring record’

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 12 May 2008 10:31 Cadillac’s new CTS-V has set a new production saloon lap record at the Nurburgring, the company claims. It reports the 2009 CTS-V lapped the 13-and-a-bit mile circuit in an impressive 7min 59.32sec.‘This blistering time appears to be the fastest ever publicly documented for a production sedan,’ says a breathless press release. And according to the records we’ve researched, they appear to be correct, although a Subaru Impreza STi Spec-C also lapped in 7min 59sec.It leaves us wondering who else is going to launch an assault on the Nordschleife’s 73 corners.

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.

Mazda3 & Mazda5 Venture Edition launched

Mazda has launched the Mazda3 Venture and the Mazda5 Venture Edition in the UK, with sporty styling and extra equipment. So far this year we’ve had the Mazda6 Venture Edition and the Mazda MX-5 Venture Edition to push buyers in to Mazda Showrooms, and now we get two more – the Mazda3 Venture Edition and the Mazda5 Venture Edition to add to the temptations. Both versions of the Venture Edition are based on Mazda’s TS2 specification with a bit of added sportiness thrown in for more showroom appeal, with a spoiler at the back, side skirts, a sports grill, privacy glass and Fogs.