2010 / 2011 MINI Revealed

The MINI Range 2011 The MINI has had a terrific run under the ownership of BMW. It’s spawned an unbelievable number of specials and one-offs yet still seems to strike a chord in the hearts of buyers, despite its ubiquity and the arrival of challengers such as the Fiat 500, Citroen DS3 and Alfa Romeo MiTo. But there’s a new danger lurking in the wings for MINI with the imminent arrival of the A1.

Lamborghini Aventador drives record Lamborghini sales in 2013

Record Aventador sales drive Lamborghini’s turnover It would not have been unreasonable to think that Lamborghini’s turnover for 2013 would be less than 2012, especially as the Gallardo was about to be consigned to the history books to make way for the Huracan. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, despite the Gallardo’s demise at the end of 2013, Lamborghini managed to increase its turnover in 2013 to €508 million – up €39 million on 2012 – and break records for V12 sales in the process.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.