2002 Ford Mustang..focus..zx2 Showroom Sales Brochure on 2040-parts.com

Concept Car of the Week: Mazda Taiki (2007)

Mazda had been doing fantastically well with its concepts since the end of 2006, and its offering for the 2007 Tokyo motor show didn't buck the trend. The fourth in the 'Nagare' series that explored the idea of 'Flow, it lined up on the Mazda stand with its older brothers for the first time, and was understandably a most impressive display and one of the highlights of this show. Here's what Nick Hull had to say about the Taiki at the time.

European car sales crash

Renault saw its sales fall 23.7 per cent in February Car sales across Europe have fallen nearly 10 per cent in the economic gloom, with Renault, Peugeot Citroen, Fiat and Opel the big losers. There’s been a big decline in new car sales across Europe in February, with monthly sales down almost ten per cent compared to 2011, and it’s the mainstream car makers who are suffering the most. Sales for Renault are down by a massive 23.7 per cent to 86,402, Peugeot Citroen did almost as badly with a drop of 16.5 per cent to 118,381 and Fiat suffered the same percentage drop with sales of 66,249 (Alfa Romeo sales actually fell by 28.5 per cent).

Parking wardens given ‘illegal’ bonus targets

Parking wardens are given ‘illegal’ bonuses based on the number of fines they dish out, according to an investigation by the BBC. Three London Councils are now being probed by Local Government Minister, Brandon Lewis, as a result of the BBC’s research. On Bing: see pictures of bad parking UK pays £30 million a month in parking fines Bromley Council’s parking firm Vinci reportedly paid wardens a bonus of £20 a ticket, with a target of 72,000 penalty charge notices – while Lambeth’s parking enforcement contractors NSL ‘requires’ 205,000 tickets to be issued a year.