Lexus sales rising strongly in Europe – up 33 per cent in Western Europe

The new Lexus IS (pictured) is leading Lexus’s sales growth in europe There’s lots to like about the Lexus range (even if we would like to see proper gearboxes proliferate), and it seems buyers across Europe are getting more and more enamoured of Toyota’s luxury brand. Lexus are reporting soaring sales in Europe so far in 2014, with sales up by 25.4 per cent over the same period in 2013 (and by 33 per cent in Western Europe) and the Lexus IS leading the way. Lexus IS sales were up to 6,923, followed by the Lexus RX SUV and the compact Lexus CT, with even the massively expensive Lexus LS chipping in 265 sales in the first six months of the year.

Subaru shows off Viziv2 concept at Geneva Motor Show

Subaru brought a new concept to the Geneva Motor Show this week, dubbed Viziv2. It's hard to ignore the somewhat alien-sounding name, and it stands for "vision for innovation." And it's the second Viziv concept, Subaru having debuted a similar concept car at last year's Geneva Motor Show. Like the concept that came before it, Viziv2 is meant to preview design language and technologies working their way into Subaru production cars, and we can already see a resemblance between the 2015 Subaru Legacy, as well as the recently-revealed WRX STI, and the concept vehicle that Subaru has brought to Geneva.

Final second-generation Mini leaves production line

THE FINAL Mini hatchback of the current generation has left the production line in Oxford, after more than a million were made for customers around the world. There’s no time for production staff to rest, though, with assembly of the new Mini hatchback already under way alongside the many other Mini model derivatives. In total, more than 1.8 million hatchback Minis have been built at the factory since 2001, of which 1,041,412 were the currently outgoing model.