Genuine Mopar Side Marker Lamp Front 68042143aa on 2040-parts.com

Hyundai i30 hits a million

Hyundai has revealed it has now built more than a million i30s with European sales accounting for 500,000 of those sales. Get over the latent badge snoberry and the Hyundai i30 is a family car that can be considered a real alternative to the leading cars in its sector – the VW Golf and Ford Focus – with a good combination of style, equipment, decent driving dynamics and cost. Set aside that badge snobbery and any buyer looking for a family car should really have these three – the i30, Golf and Focus - on their top three list; the rest is down to a subjective judgement.

Land Rover Defender reprieved

Land Rover Defender reprieved until 2017 - and maybe beyond It’s the news that all die-hard Land Rover Defender fans – and there are still plenty of them – wanted to hear; the current Defender has won a reprieve until at least 2017. It had originally been thought that the iconic (that word again, but it’s justified in the Defender’s case) Landie would be forced in to the annuls of motoring history by Euro emissions rules. But thanks to plans to endow the current Defender with a version of JLR’s 2.2 litre diesel, it now means that the Defender as we know it can keep on trucking until at least 2017 with its new, Euro5 compliant engine.

First sight: Volkswagen Passat (2015)

In recent years, European buyers have been switching their mid-size sedans and wagons for smaller cars, crossovers and SUVs. The Volkswagen Passat, Europe's most successful company car, has defined this market segment pretty much since it arrived back in 1973, and this latest, eighth-generation model has been designed to attempt to reverse that buying trend. When we catch up with design director Dr Klaus Bischoff at the car's unveiling, he's certainly confident that the new car represents a significant step forward.