Audi Q7 Mk1 (4l) Est 06-08 Boot Carpet on 2040-parts.com

Future products: Hyundai's push will change the look of showrooms

Hyundai is introducing seven new or redesigned models in a 24-month stretch that ends in the fall of 2011. So naturally the Hyundai guys refer to their product onslaught as “24/7.” And the pace won't slow much after those seven models hit the streets. Significant new entries also are planned for 2012 and 2013, including Hyundai's first fuel cell electric vehicle, a redesigned Veracruz full-sized crossover and a replacement for the Azera full-sized sedan.

The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Kia sell their 500,000th car in the UK – a cee’d ‘4’ 1.6 CRDi

Dale & Amy Pollard receive the keys to Kia’s 500,000th UK car Kia arrived in the UK in 1991 as a seller of budget cars, but in recent years Kia, along with sister company Hyundai, has moved very much in to the mainstream, with a range of credible cars that now sell on merit, not just price. That turn round for Kia has seen sales rising strongly to the point where they have now sold 5000,000 Kias since the marque first arrived in the UK. The milestone car is a cee’d ‘4’ 1.6 CRDi and has been delivered to a married couple in Leicester - Dale and Amy Pollard – who got a bit of special treatment from their Kia dealers - Kia Sandicliffe – at a handover ceremony attended by Stuart Wardle from Kia and Sandicliffe’s John Marsh.