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VW Amarok pick-up (2010) first official pictures

VW has unveiled its first UK-bound pick-up for a generation, the new Amarok. It's coming here in September 2010 in the double-cab bodystyle pictured; a single-cab variant will follow in 2011. The new VW Amarok has workmanlike figures, with a 1.15-tonne payload, a 2.52 sq m cargo bed and a 2.8-tonne towing capacity.

Isuzu MU-X SUV revealed ahead of Tokyo motor show

Just ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, Isuzu has shared more details on its upcoming MU-X SUV which was revealed in Bangkok days ago. Based on Isuzu D-Max pickup, the Isuzu was actually developed alongside the Australian-market Holden Colorado 7, sold elsewhere as the Chevrolet TrailBlazer. The seven-seat MU-X was designed in Thailand along with its Holden sibling, and its development route mirrored that of the first SUVs that started coming to the market in the mid-1980s -- taking a compact truck and adding a couple of doors and a hatch for the back.

Storms batter Britain

THE MET OFFICE has issued a "red" weather warning for exceptionally strong winds in western parts of Wales and north-western parts of England, while the Thames is predicted to rise to its highest level in more than 60 years in some places. On the day dubbed Wild Wednesday, gusts of 108mph hit Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula in north west Wales, while 96mph winds were recorded off the south coast of England at the Needles, on the Isle of Wight. The Met Office has forecast 2.75ins (70mm) of rain by Friday in the already-sodden West Country - more than the region would normally get in the whole of February - with south Wales, western Scotland, Northern Ireland and other parts of southern England also expected to bear the brunt of the deluge.