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New car registrations continue to rise – up 6.6% in July 2014

The Ford Fiesta (pictured) topped the UK sales chart again in July 2014 There must come a point (mustn’t there?) when new car sales/registrations slow down in the UK, but there seems little sign of it happening any time soon. For the 29th month in a row, new car registrations in the UK rose again in July 2014, up by 6.6 per cent on the same month in 2013, hitting a total of 172,907. So far in 2014, new car registrations have risen by 10.1 per cent to 1,460,172, with the SMMT predicting that new car registrations for 2014 will end up 8.1 per cent up on 2013 at 2,450,000.

CES: Cranking up Harman's QuantumLogic 3D surround-sound system

Yesterday we reported how Audi was readying a lavish 3D sound experience with 23 speakers and 1,400 watts of goosebump-inducing audio power. Not to be outdone, Harman had been quietly developing a system of its own: Quantum Logic 3D brings together 25 speakers and more than 2,000 watts of Tubthumping power to a new car near you, like driving inside Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Sitting inside the demonstration BMW 7-Series that Harman painstakingly lifted into the Studio at the Palms, Global Audio Engineering vice president Phil Muzio explained, "great music is delivered in stereo, yet our consumer research indicates that people enjoy surround sound." QuantumLogic 3D's surround sound expands beyond the boundaries of the vehicle's cabin, providing "a sense of detail and spatial placement that you don't get in stereo." Five height component speakers mounted in the corners of the headliner, and above the rearview mirror, elevates audio beyond the confines of the roof, "almost like you're in a convertible," said Muzio.

VW pushes upmarket: the new Passat and lessons learned by the Phaeton

By John Mahoney Motoring Issues 07 July 2014 08:02 Logically, it makes perfect sense to push the new 2015 VW Passat upmarket far away from the declining, mass-market D-segment it used to inhabit. After all, how can Volkswagen resist a tasty slice of profit the BMW 3-series or Mercedes C-class dishes out to their makers? Even if it does risk stepping on Audi's toes...