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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.

MINI Rocketman could be heading for production – if BMW can find a chassis

The ‘Mini’ MINI Rocketman (pictured) could go in to production The MINI Rocketman Concept was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011 as a smaller MINI than the one BMW were selling at the time, and it looked like BMW were considering going the smaller route to make the MINI more fun. But with the 2014 MINI now revealed, BMW has gone the opposite route by underpinning the new MINI with the UKL platform that will also underpin the next BMW 1 Series, and made the latest MINI even bigger than the last one. But it seems BMW still see mileage in a ‘Mini MINI’ and appear keen to find a way to make the Rocketman a production reality.

2012 Mazda CX-5 at Frankfurt

2012 Mazda CX-5 - Frankfurt Debut Mazda has been touting its SKYACTIV Technologies for some time now, and the new 2012 Mazda CX-5 – which Mazda will debut at Frankfurt next month – is the first Mazda to come endowed with a complete raft of SKYACTIV stuff. The clever stuff includes Mazda’s new modular platform that can be used for everything from the Mazda3 upwards, and which is said to give the CX-5 not just car-like handling but proper sporty and stable driving dynamics too. The SKYACTIV technology comes in to play with the engines too on the CX-5, with the new 2.2 litre diesel delivering 173bhp and a remarkably low 120g/km in standard guise.