USED CAR MARKET BOUNCED BACK IN JANUARY

BCA’S LATEST Pulse report shows that average values rose in January following the disruption caused by the Arctic conditions and shorter trading period in December. The volume of vehicles being traded also increased – not surprisingly very significantly when compared to December, but also by 10% year on year. Vehicles from both the fleet & lease and part-exchange sectors recorded notable value improvements and part-exchange values reached record levels.

Audi A1 Sportback concept: first photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 01 October 2008 21:35 Audi has whisked the covers off its five-door A1 – in the shape of this A1 Sportback concept car, shown to a few selected media and VIPs on the eve of the Paris motor show 2008. It's a follow-up to 2007's A1 Metroproject quattro concept, which previewed the three-door A1. Audi's new supermini is scheduled to arrive in showrooms in 2010; you can read CAR's full scoop on how the production A1 will look here.We'll have the full story on the new Audi A1 concept in the coming hours, but we can confirm the car's dimensions: at 3990mm long and 1750mm wide, it's actually a size up on BMW's Mini (3699mm/1683mm in One hatchback form).

BMW ActiveHybrid 3 (2012 / 2013): New 3 Series Hybrid details revealed

2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 3 - on sale late 2012 BMW hasn’t had the most astonishing success with its hybrid offerings to date, but despite that, and following the reveal of the 2012 3 Series last week, they have announced details of the 3 Series hybrid – the BMW ActiveHybrid 3. Just like the recently revealed ActiveHybrid 5, the BMW Active Hybrid 3 will get a 302bhp twin-turbo six-pot (the same engine as the 335i) together with an electric motor which throws an additional 53bhp in to the mix. That should mean a 0-60mph of around 5.5 seconds (although BMW has given us no performance figures) and it will give 44mpg, exactly the same as the bigger ActiveHybrid 5 – and not exactly spectacular.