Porsche 911 cabriolet: First official photographs

Porsche has developed an innovative fabric and composite-plastic folding roof for the 911 cabriolet as part of a push to give it a cleaner appearance, improved aerodynamic efficiency and greater levels of refinement than its strong-selling predecessor. Pictured here officially for the first time ahead of its world premiere in January at the Detroit auto show, the new open-top 911 is planned to go on sale in North America in 2012 in Carrera cabriolet and Carrera S models. Eschewing the traditional multilayered fabric structure of the 997 series 911 cabriolet, the next model (991 series) adopts a specially developed lightweight roof that uses two fabric-skinned composite plastic panels for the upper and rear part of the structure, giving it a more uniform shape together with a tauter fit that is claimed to make it more resistant than before to buffeting at high speeds.

New Datsun makes its first appearance

The first new Datsun in a generation )pictured) will be revealed on July 15th As we reported in 2012 Nissan, having spent countless hundreds of millions replacing the Datsun name with Nissan on its cars a generation ago, decided to revive the Datsun brand for a new range of affordable cars for emerging markets. It looks like the new Datsun – codenamed K2 – will be a mix of the current and last generation Micra with new styling and pitched at around £3500 when it launches in the Indian car market. With the same – but de-tuned – 1.2 litre petrol engine as the Micra, the new Datsun is aimed at cars like the Indian market Hyundai i10 and Maruti, and sales are expected to start in early 2014.

Logbook loans signal increasing debt risk

CONSUMERS who buy second-hand cars are at risk of unwittingly inheriting debts taken out by the previous owner that could end up with their vehicle being seized, Citizens' Advice is warning. The charity said one in five people who reported a problem to it about “logbook loans”, where a person places their car as security against a loan, ended up having their car repossessed – despite not being the one who borrowed the money. Citizens' Advice warned someone who buys a car which is still the subject of an outstanding logbook loan taken out by a previous owner could end up being chased for the debt – leaving them with the choice of making the repayments or having their vehicle repossessed.