Seat Exeo ST estate (2009): first official pictures

Seat Exeo ST estate By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 11 February 2009 14:36 Seat is plundering its Audi partner's back-issues cupboard again – this time for the new Exeo ST estate. This first image of Seat's Geneva show starlet confirm that the Spaniards are again turning yesteryear's Audi A4 into a bargain-basement wagon version of the Exeo. Think of the Exeo ST as Seat's contender in the Mondeo/Insignia estate class, a sector that's new ground for the Barcelona-based car maker.

UK new car registrations up again in July

New car registrations in the UK have risen for the fifth month running, with a total of 143,884 new cars registered in July 2012. The UK is continuing to buck the European trend with new car registrations up by 9.3 per cent in July (2102) to 143,884 according to new figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That figure is the largest sales volume of 2012 and is the fifth month in a row that new car registrations have risen, despite economic woes and the Eurozone crisis, and brings registrations in 2012 to 1,201,564 so far, leading the SMMT to increase their prediction for 2012 sales upwards to 1.97 million.

Alan Mulally spells out the future

Ford CEO Alan Mulally is famously on-message, handing out business-card-size versions of his business plan to all and sundry, including his “One Ford” mantra. “One Ford” covers a lot of ground, but it's shorthand for Ford becoming a single entity where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. It's close kin to the concept of building global product platforms that spread costs for product development and parts over the greatest possible volume.