Mercedes now more affordable

MERCEDES-BENZ has announced a host of offers to make its cars more affordable, including three years of free servicing with the A-class hatchback. Those choosing the A-Class can also take advantage of Mercedes Agility Personal Contract Hire scheme to run an A180 SE from £249 per month for three years, with a deposit of £2743. The C-Class is also offered through the same contract hire programme from £285 for a C180 Executive SE saloon.

Saab gets approval for voluntary reorganization on appeal

...and Victor Muller smiles Victor Muller never says die, and the news that Saab has, after all, been granted the right to court protection from its creditors for a period of reorganisation has vindicated his stubborn refusal to give up on Saab. The Court of Appeal in Gothenburg has this morning overturned an earlier judgement by the District Court in Vänersborg which rejected Saab’s application to get the court’s protection during a period of ‘reorganisation’, which you can read as ‘Waiting for the dosh to arrive from China’. The news last week that Rachel Pang – a director of Pang Da, one of Saab’s putative investors – has come out in a very bullish way about the prospects for the investment by Pang Da and Youngman getting the final rubber stamp from China’s NDRC in Beijing won’t have harmed Saab’s case one bit.

Hot Wheels cars inventor Elliot Handler dies

Elliot Handler,the inventor of Hot Wheels die-cast toy cars, died July 21 at his home in Southern California. He was 95 years old. Handler and his wife, Ruth, and family friend Matt Matson founded the Mattel toy company in 1945.