2035122 Scott 219624-1024 Sx2 Grips (blue/silver) on 2040-parts.com

Hyundai i30 hits a million

Hyundai has revealed it has now built more than a million i30s with European sales accounting for 500,000 of those sales. Get over the latent badge snoberry and the Hyundai i30 is a family car that can be considered a real alternative to the leading cars in its sector – the VW Golf and Ford Focus – with a good combination of style, equipment, decent driving dynamics and cost. Set aside that badge snobbery and any buyer looking for a family car should really have these three – the i30, Golf and Focus - on their top three list; the rest is down to a subjective judgement.

Official: New Alfa Romeo Spider based on new Mazda MX-5

Following a MOU in May 2012, Alfa Romeo has confirmed they will be launching a new Alfa Spider in 2015 based on the next Mazda MX-5 Back in May 2012, Fiat and Mazda signed a memorandum of understanding to produce a new Alfa Romeo Spider built on the same platform as the next generation Mazda MX-5, and that has now turned in to a solid agreement with the new Alfa Spider arriving in 2015. But this won’t be a simple badge-engineering by Fiat to roll out a new Alfa Spider that’s just the same as the next MX-5 but with a different badge and grill, but will feature different styling and engines to make sure there is real differentiation between the roadsters. That means the new Alfa Spider getting Italian styling (which we hope has more than a passing nod to the original Alfa Spider) an, it’s expected, Alfa’s 1750cc engine we’ll see in the new Alfa 4C when that arrives.

Aston Martin DBS Carbon (2011) at Frankfurt motor show

There's a new Aston Martin model at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. In fact, there are two new Astons at this year's IAA. Or we could stop dressing up the facts and admit that it's really just a special edition, the Aston Martin DBS Carbon Edition, available in both Coupe and Volante forms.