Dacia won’t build a car smaller than the Sandero

The Dacia Sandero (pictured) will remain Dacia’s smallest model In austere times, budget buys sell. Which is why Dacia is having so much success with its compact Sandero and Duster SUV. With prices on the Sandero starting at just £5,995 and Duster SUV prices as little as £8,995 (although you’ll have to pay £10,995 for a 4WD version), car buyers are buying Dacias as quickly as Renault can build them, with sales in a European market that shrank by 7 per cent last year up by 18 per cent to 90,000 cars for Dacia.

Lamborgini Jota (or nota Jota) Tease 5. Or Tease 6

Jota Tease 6 Well, isn’t it getting exciting? You might consider – as we probably wrongly did – that the tease for Lamborghni’s Paris surprise started back in June when Lamborghini sent us a photo which said ‘Coming Soon…’ across a photo of a bonnet in shadow with the Lamborghini badge in light. Or you could consider that the more recent batch of tease photos started with what we called the Jota tease 2 earlier this month.

New Hyundai Sante Fe is the safest car in its class

The 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe has been revealed as the safest car in its class by Euro NCAP, ahead of cars like the new Range Rover. But looking good and driving well are just part of the motivation for car buyers, with many wanting to make sure they carry their loved ones around in a car that not only appeals with its design and driving, but one which offers as much safety as modern technology can provide. So Hyundai has something to crow about this morning with the news that the new Santa Fe has been revealed as the safest car in its class in 2012 by Euro NCAP – those nice people who destroy cars to see just how well bolted together they are – beating others in the ‘Large Off-Road 4×4′ category like the new Mercedes M Class and new Range Rover in the process.