Top 10 car adverts revealed

THE UK’s favourite television car advertisements have been revealed and Honda has grabbed the top two places. Its Hands advert was an easy winner with more than 12 million views, followed by the Japanese firm’s An Impossible Made Possible ad in second spot. Third place went to one of two Chevrolet adverts in the top 10 with the American company’s Outstanding Design ad in third followed by its LifeTest promotion in fourth.

Volkswagen XL1

This, remarkably, is the production version of the Volkswagen XL1, the most fuel-efficient production car in the world, a car we'll see in Geneva in a little over a week. Barely changed from the concept version shown at the Qatar motor show two years ago, the production XL1 is the first production result of VW's 1-liter project – to design a car that uses less than 1l/100km (282.5mpg imperial) – that started with the lozenge-shaped, tandem-seat 2003 1L and the later L1 of 2009. The XL1 actually beats that by sipping just 0.9 liters with CO2 emissions of 21g/km.

Rolls Royce in the London 2012 closing ceremony

Three special Rolls Royce Phantom DHCs featured in last night’s Olympic closing ceremony – without the Rolls Royce logos. It’s been a good Olympic Games for BMW. They scored a big PR coup with the remote-controlled MINIs that gathered Javelins and discus in the field events, and they’ve managed to get Rolls Royce front and centre for the closing ceremony last night.