1978-85 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Horn Button on 2040-parts.com

New car sales hit ten year high – Toyota Yaris breaks in to top 10

The Toyota Yaris accounted for over 20% of hybrid sales in March 2014 We’ve got used to new car sales (well, new car registrations) hitting new highs month after month, but March 2014 managed to top even the recent levels with the highest monthly registrations in a decade. March is normally the year’s highest new car month with the ‘year’ plate change coming in, with almost 20 per cent of cars registered in that month alone (it used to be August when  there was just one plate change a year) and 2014 saw a jump of nearly 18 per cent over 2013, and the highest total since March 2014. Still sitting atop the list is the Ford Fiesta (25,753) with more than 50 per cent more sales than the second place Ford Focus (16,860), with the usual suspects taking up the rest of the top ten (full top ten sales for March 2014 below).

Rowan Atkinson’s McLaren F1 cost nearly £1 million to fix

Rowan Atkinson pranged his McLaren F1 in 2011 in Cambridgeshire and now, after a repair bill of £910,00, it’s back. We all know what a petrolhead Black Adder and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson is, and most of the car world knows he owns a McLaren F1, and that he had a nasty accident in it in 2011. Rowan lost control of his F1 in damp and unpleasant conditions on the A605 near Peterborough and ended up going backwards in to a tree.

Seat celebrates 60 years of production

SPANISH car maker Seat has this week celebrated its 60th anniversary, releasing pictures dating back to its very first model, the 1400. Six decades have now passed since the first 1400 rolled off the production line, when the brand new company was inundated with 10,000 orders following the end of petrol rationing in Spain. With so much production demand Seat was able to drop the initial price of 121,875 to a more reasonable 117,000 pesetas, or what would have been about £590 at the time.