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Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy grabs Nurburgring Record

Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy and the Nurburgring crew First we get the news that Renault has pushed out a limited edition Megane Renaulsport – the Megane Renaulsport 265 Trophy with a slightly tweaked and titivated version of the Megane Renaultsport 250 – and now we get the follow-up publicity with the claim of a new Nurburgring record for the brisk Megane. This isn’t a record that’s quite as daft as some of the records that are claimed for the Nurburgring (there almost seems to be a specific category of ‘Record’ time to fit every car maker’s needs), but it does seem a bit obscure. It’s the Nurburgring record for the fastest production front wheel drive car.

Sturgess Jaguar is the Franchised Main Dealer of the Year 2013

The dealer experience can make or break your relationship with a car brand, so having a strong, high profile group of main dealers that offers not just a showroom full of cars, but staff who are knowledgeable, helpful and prepared to go the extra mile, makes the difference. So Jaguar will be suitably chuffed that not only did March see them deliver their best sales results ever but that one of their main dealers – Sturgess Jaguar in Leicester – has been named Franchised Main dealer of the year in the Motor Codes Garage of the Year Awards run by Motor Codes, a government-backed operator of codes of practice for the motor industry. Motor Codes had 11,500 garage users rate their experience of of customer service in garages across the UK, and Sturgess came out on top in the Main dealer Franchise gong thanks to its “transparent, customer-focused approach and its all-round efforts to accommodate all types of customer requirements”.

VW reveals plug-in diesel hybrid concept, claims 261 mpg

Volkswagen has used a car show in the Middle East nation of Qatar to unveil a two-seat plug-in hybrid concept car that the automaker says will deliver 261 mpg. The VW XL1 uses a lithium-ion battery pack, an electric motor and a two-cylinder, 0.8-liter diesel engine for the powertrain. We're still digesting the press release, but here are some highlights: -- VW says the XL1 can travel about 22 miles on electricity from the battery pack.