Daihatsu Mira-es 2013 Heather Blow Motor [4-67900] on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar slashes prices – in Australia

Jaguar has slashed prices across its range in Australia – by as much as £40,000 – as it fights for a bigger market share. But there’s also a feeling that all those years of protectionist import tariffs have inured Australians to the high price of luxury cars, and that car makers take advantage of that by keeping prices high, regardless of the level of taxes imposed on their products. That means something like a Rolls Royce Phantom costs £650k and a Porsche 911 starts at £150k.

Aston Martin DB9 Facelift spied

The 2011 Aston Martin DB9 Facelift There’s a fair bit going on at Aston Martin at the moment, a big change from just a year ago when the recession was causing huge pain. We’ve had the launch of the car the V8 Vantage always threatened to be with the initially limited edition Aston Martin V12 Vantage, and the news that the V12 Vantage is US bound and no longer a limited edition. The big news for AM this year has been the launch (finally) of the most beautiful 4 door car in the world – the Aston Martin Rapide – which frankly could handle like a dog and take 20 seconds to get to 60 mph and we’d still want one, so achingly gorgeous is it by any measure of saloon car gorgeousness.

VW Polo R WRC Street Limited Edition – but not for the UK

Volkswagen has revealed a production version of its Polo WRC car – the VW Polo R WRC Street – as a limited run, but not for the UK. Volkswagen has revealed a limited run VW Polo R WRC Street to coincide with their foray in to WRC with the Polo, and it goes on sale this month – but not for the UK. The LHD only Polo R WRC Street gets the 4WD platform Audi has developed for the A1 together with a 2.0 litre TSI producing 220bhp, delivered to all four wheels through a six-speed manual ‘box, enough to scoot the Polo R WRC to 62mph in 6.4 seconds – quicker than the Golf GTi.