Hallett Plaque on 2040-parts.com

Viva La Viva

VAUXHALL is to resurrect the Viva name as it plans to launch an entry-level car to sit alongside its Mini rival the Adam and soon to be launched new Corsa supermini. For now the car maker isn’t giving much away, although it has revealed that the new car will be a five-door model. And while the new Viva will be a significant step up in terms of refinement and sophistication over its 1963 namesake, it’s clear that Vauxhall is keen to tap into the current trend for producing low cost cars that’s proved so successful for the likes of Dacia.

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

911 GT3 recall update: Porsche reportedly replacing all engines

Porsche recalled all 785 2014 GT3s on the road last month for an unexplained problem that could cause the engine to catch fire. The company told owners to stop driving the cars immediately. Two vehicles in Europe caught fire after engine damage occurred.