Caterham F1 unveils its 2012 challenger

It's that time of the year when all the new 2012 F1 cars are unveiled. In the next fortnight, most of the major Formula 1 teams will announce their new race cars ready for the 2012 F1 season. The rules are changed, so are the cars.

McLaren unveils new supercar

After years of spy shots and speculation, McLaren Automotive finally took the wraps off its latest supercar, the MP4-12C. The MP4-12C follows the McLaren F1 (1993-1998) and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (2003-2009). McLaren Automotive says the MP4-12C is the first in a line of new sports cars it will produce, but won't say when or how many more will come.

UK new car average CO2 now under 140g/km

UK motor industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) claims 56% of new cars sold in the UK during 2010 boasted carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions figures below 140g/km. New car emissions of CO2 continued to fall at an increased rate year-on-year, dropping 3.5% over 2009’s figures and representing a cumulative drop in new car CO2 emissions of 20.3% since 2000.  The data comes from the release of the SMMT’s annual New Car Carbon Dioxide (CO2) report for 2011, out today. UK vehicle fleet CO2 continues to fall The presence of lower-polluting new vehicles in the overall UK vehicle parc (the total fleet of new and existing vehicles on the roads) has driven parcwide CO2 levels down 7.8% since 2000, and 2.7% since 2009.  This is partly thanks to new vehicles, and also due to reduction of higher-polluting vehicles via legislation and scrappage incentive schemes. The overall reduction also comes in spite of an increased number of vehicles on the road, and greater average distances travelled compared to 2000. Diesel’s rise continues One notable trend has been market penetration of diesel-powered cars. In 2000 petrol powered cars held 85.9% of the market, with 14.1% diesels.