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Fire up the spanners: For the Love of Cars preview

Philip Glenister will be back on our television screens from Sunday 20 April with a new series called For the Love of Cars. This time it’s all real life, though, as he explores the history of six iconic British cars with a restoration twist. Rather than simply talking about the vehicles, Glenister and the car restoration expert Ant Anstead will set out every week to find and restore an example of each one – starting with the Mk1 Ford Escort Mexico.

Demise of kei cars on the horizon?

The kei car has long been a staple of the Japanese automobile industry and its car culture. Too diminutive for Western markets, the tiny cars and trucks are a strong influencer of design in Japan. Now, as The New York Times reports, the Japanese government has hit kei cars with increases in sales tax, gasoline prices and has reduced the kei car tax break introduced to make the cars popular in the first place by 50 percent.

Driven: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Just over 25 years ago, in November 1982, Mercedes Chief Designer Bruno Sacco introduced his new 'baby' 190, codenamed W201. Billed as the new compact Mercedes, it was a successful model that lasted a full ten years until being replaced by the first C-Class (W202). This model – the first with the triangular tail lamps – lasted until 2000 when it was replaced by the W203, a more softly-styled update of the W202 model, with the 'peanut-shaped' linked double headlamps.