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James Bond still drives an Aston Martin. But now he drinks Heineken too.

The Aston Martin DB5 returns in Skyfall (image ©Eon) - but Heineken replaces a Martini James Bond may drive an Aston Martin, but he’s going a bit more downmarket in Skyfall after a £25 million deal to place Heineken. Product placement is a great way for brands to raise their profile by association with a successful film, TV show or celeb. And much of what now gets placed on screen to push our buttons can probably be blamed on the James Bond franchise.

Hyundai i20 WRC starts testing

Hyundai has been busy plotting its return to WRC Rallying for 2014, but so far it’s all been about behind the scenes work on building an i20 capable of taking on the rally world and gathering a team that can make it a success. But with the first official outing for the i20 due in January 2014 in Monte Carlo, Hyundai has finally taken their i20 WRC out in the world to give it some proper testing outside the workshop, Hyundai have been playing on a private testing ground to check out the i20′s systems, followed by a comprehensive testing session to work on different setups and gather data, with a major focus on the i20′s 1.6 litre turbo which, until now, hadn’t been run in the car outside Hyundai’s R&D. Hyundai say all went well over the 55okm of testing across three days, a prelude to a full programme of testing in the coming months as Hyundai get closer to their official debut.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.