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May 2009: UK new car sales and trends analysis

By Peter Adams Motor Industry 04 June 2009 12:00 The scrappage scheme was supposed to give the UK car market a massive boost, but latest figures out today show new car registrations are still down by more than a quarter. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports that new car registrations fell 24.8% in May 2009 to 134,858 units. However, this fall marks an improvement on earlier months of the year.

Motion Simulation TL1: Ariel builds an immersive simulator

Ariel Moto Company, makers of the mad-yet-minimalist Atom sportscar, have teamed up with new UK firm Motion Simulation to develop and manufacture the TL1 immersive motion simulator. Featuring a spherical immersive projection screen and adjustable driving position, the TL1's composite pod allows vicarious thrill-seekers to try piloting anything from an F1 car to a combat aircraft with a greater degree of realism than existing simulator chairs. In the video above, the TL1 is configured as as Touring Car racer.

M-way closures 'all year round'

SOME MAJOR MOTORWAYS did not operate at full capacity on any day last year, according to figures obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. There were some lane closures on all 365 days of 2013 on the M1, M4, M5, M6 and M25 as well as on the M60 in north west England and on the M54 in Shropshire and Staffordshire. There were 358 days of lane closures on the M62 in northern England, 357 on the M40 which runs west from London to South Wales and 355 on the M27 in Hampshire.