Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are top global car brands

Toyota & Mercedes-Benz are the Top Global Automotive Brands 2011 Interbrand, a branding consultancy, delivers a report on the world’s brands every year, and in 2011, despite recall woes and the devastation of the Japanese Tsunami, Toyota leads the automotive brands, with luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz just behind. Interbrand uses three measures to gauge how effective a brand is – performance of branded product, the brands ability to secure earnings and the role of the brand in purchasing decisions – to come up with a chart of the top 100 world brands. At the top of the tree are companies like Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft and Google, but car brands do well with Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda, VW, and Ford all making it in to the top 50.

Vauxhall Astra facelift (2012) first official pictures

Vauxhall has treated its strong-selling Astra range to a minor facelift, and plumbed a 192bhp twin-turbo diesel motor into the GTC three-door model. The revisions will complement the new Astra VXR flagship, which goes on sale this month. Vauxhall Astra facelift?

Malaysian Grand Prix (2012) RESULT

F1 Malaysian Grand Prix 2012 The front row of the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix is the same as at Australia last week. But can McLaren dominate in Malaysia too? It seems reasonable to expect that McLaren can repeat their success in Australia last week in Malaysia with a repeat of the front row of the grid and the impetus a great start to the season brings.