Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

New 2015 Skoda Fabia revealed – well, sort of

The design sketch of the 2015 Skoda Fabia We’re not entirely sure we can consider the design sketch of the new Skoda Fabia (above) as a reveal of Skoda’s supermini, but it is a clue to what we can expect when the new Fabia arrives in the coming weeks. Skoda tell us that the new Fabia will be taking its design cues from the Vision C Concept we saw at Geneva – and the new Octavia –  and that is a new direction for Skoda  with added width and a flatter body creating, say Skoda, more harmonious proportions. Of course, the design sketch of the new Fabia has the usual artistic license to make it more dynamic than the reality will be, with the end product when it arrives likely to look much like a smaller version of Skoda’s latest efforts.

New car sales in UK still growing – up 14.8% April 2013. Driven by PPI Claims?

It is quite hard to fathom just how UK new car sales (well, registrations) continue to rise inexorably against a backdrop of otherwise stagnant economic activity, but they do. April 2013 has seen a total of 163,357 new car registrations, up a huge 14.8 per cent on April 2012 and the best figure since 2008, and these sales figures are not being driven by fleet buyers but by private motorists – private sector registrations grew by 32.3 per cent in April and are up by 15.2 per cent year to date. Not surprisingly, it’s the Superminis that are performing strongly – although all sectors are showing a rise – and it’s the Ford Fiesta that continues to be the best seller in the UK with sales of over 8,000 in April and over 42,000 so far in 2013, and the rise of superminis has also seen an increase in sales of petrol-engined cars thanks to the wave of small capacity, frugal petrol options.

The real Bond car: Aston Martin that inspired 007 for sale

A gadget-packed Aston Martin that’s said to have been the inspiration behind James Bond’s Aston Martin in Goldfinger has been revealed in London prior to going up for auction at Blenheim Palace in July. The 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 has been expertly restored by its current owners – who actually didn’t know the car could have inspired Fleming until they began restoring it. Years of research – and the nine-month nut and bolt renovation – followed, producing what auctioneers believe is a car that, if the right people are in the auction crowd, could make the owners very rich indeed.