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MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.

New Subaru Forester UK launch summer 2013

The 2013 Subaru Forester was revealed in Japan earlier this month and Subaru confirm it will arrive in the UK summer 2013. The new Forester does look very like the current Forester, but it does get some cosmetic tweaks with new bumpers, a more defined crease down the flanks and new alloys, mas well as a few extra toys like a new Infotainment Centre and SatNav with reversing camera. But what is also new is that in addition to a 2.0 litre petrol and diesel engine option – both with around 150PS – Subaru has confirmed the 2012 Forester will also get a new a new 2.0-litre direct injection turbo good for 280PS, which should bring a whole new dimension to the Forester experience.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.