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SEASONAL PRESSURES SEE MARKET SLOW IN JULY

AUCTION house BCA’s latest Pulse report shows that demand for older, lower value dealer part-exchange cars improved in July, but the fleet and lease sector has experienced more price pressure. The headline average used car value declined in July, as would typically be expected at the onset of the summer holiday months. Values across the board fell to £5,633 down from the £5,662 recorded in June – a £29 decrease that was equivalent to 0.5% fall.

Next-gen Passat to offer hybrid and twin-turbo power

VOLKSWAGEN is going even more upmarket with the all-new version of the Passat, which is due to hit showrooms later this year. Soon buyers will be able to include a plug-in hybrid and an all-new 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel among their forecourt options, as VW goes chasing after its sister company Audi. Weight-saving measures have chopped up to 85kg from the new kid on a like-for-like basis, which helps achieve VW's stated efficiency boosts of 20% versus equivalent outgoing Passats.

Audi rolls out A3 lineup at the Los Angeles auto show

There's something about German automakers and model proliferation—it seems that if there is a niche to be filled, no matter how vanishingly small, a vehicle will be devised to fill it. If no niche is extant, they'll simply invent one, which is how we wound up with the unprompted X6. Audi's new A3 lineup, which debuted at the Los Angeles auto show and will begin its 18 month-long North American rollout spring 2014, seems incredibly rational by comparison.