1965-66 Ford Mustang Nos Convertible Top Switch C4dz-15668-a on 2040-parts.com

New car sales in UK still growing – up 14.8% April 2013. Driven by PPI Claims?

It is quite hard to fathom just how UK new car sales (well, registrations) continue to rise inexorably against a backdrop of otherwise stagnant economic activity, but they do. April 2013 has seen a total of 163,357 new car registrations, up a huge 14.8 per cent on April 2012 and the best figure since 2008, and these sales figures are not being driven by fleet buyers but by private motorists – private sector registrations grew by 32.3 per cent in April and are up by 15.2 per cent year to date. Not surprisingly, it’s the Superminis that are performing strongly – although all sectors are showing a rise – and it’s the Ford Fiesta that continues to be the best seller in the UK with sales of over 8,000 in April and over 42,000 so far in 2013, and the rise of superminis has also seen an increase in sales of petrol-engined cars thanks to the wave of small capacity, frugal petrol options.

BMW resurrects the C1

BMW has resurrected the C1 as an electrically powered concept. It is part of a broad-based safety project conducted in cooperation with the European Union under the working title eSUM (European Safer Urban Motoring). The roofed scooter, which originally went on sale across Europe with a gasoline engine in 2000, was once touted by BMW as the future of urban mobility.

Infiniti M35h GT announced

Infiniti has revealed a new, cheaper, version of the hybrid M35h – the Infiniti M35h GT – which starts at £41,101. We love the idea of modern hybrid technology providing a useful power boost for more performance and better economy, but we don’t like the premium most car makers charge for their hybrid technology. But Infiniti is different, and their hybrid M – the world’s fastest hybrid production car – comes at a very small premium over the equivalent diesel offering, and now it has an even cheaper entry point.