Alfa Romeo 1991-95 164 L 164 S 164ls 164q Plastic Battery Tray on 2040-parts.com

Car Finance: ING withdrawal sees Bridford & DSG merge

The withdrawal of ING from the UK car finance market has led to the merger of Bridford Financial Solutions and DSG Financial Services. The resilience of the UK’s luxury car market is, to a great degree, driven by the availability of decent finance deals to secure a sale, and much of that business was underwritten by ING. But ING has withdrawn from the UK car finance market.

Ssangyong LIV-1 SUV: Seoul Motor Show

Ssangyong has rolled out yet another SUV Concept at its home motor show in Seoul – the Ssangyong LIV-1 SUV. The Ssangyong LIV-1 SUV is another new SUV concept from Ssangyong (we’ve had the SsangYong SIV-1 at Geneva and the e-XIV EV Concept at Paris in the last six months) with a  catchy little moniker, this one a ‘Limitless Interface Vehicle, which sets the bar quite high. The LIV-1 does have a better looking nose than any of Ssangyong’s current crop of production cars (well, certainly than the Rexton and Rodius) although it does look like the designers were competing to see how many creases they could add to the bodywork of the LIV-1.

Audi digs at Mercedes with the help of a pair of Spocks (video)

Audi likes nothing more than a bit of ‘celebrity’ kudos, which is why you’ll find endless celebs (and royalty) running round in Audis thanks to ‘enhanced’ lease deals and freebie cars. But it’s not just individual celebs that Audi loves, they also love a blockbuster film or two, which is why you’ll also see Tony Stark running around in a car with four rings in Iron Man 3 and, although there aren’t many Audis in space (or on the Enterprise), you’ll find Audi pitching in for a bit of PR on the back of the new Star Trek film – Star Trek Into Darkness. Audi has enlisted the services of Mr Spock in the guise of the original (Leonard Nimoy) and the new (Zachary Quinto) to highlight the benefits of driving an Audi, and getting a dig in at Mercedes in the process.