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Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

CDN-Opel/Vauxhall enters second phase

Car Design News and Opel/Vauxhall are pleased to announce that the second phase of its collaborative competition is now underway. The second phase of the CDN-Opel/Vauxhall competition is specifically for the seven shortlisted students from the first phase. All competition members are encouraged to comment and offer advice to the shortlisted students as they strive to make the final cut.

CAR's review of 2009: the year's best sellers

The fat lady hasn’t sung Auld Lang Syne yet, so here are the UK’s top selling cars of 2009 for the year to date. Since we’re dabbling in nostalgia, we’ve also got 1999’s greatest hits for you. So what have 10 years done to our buying habits?