New Audi A1 Sportback: The Five-Door A1 arrives for 2012

Audi reveals the new A1 Sportback 5 Door With almost two years of sales of the ‘Only Premium Car in its Class’ (Audi’s assertion), Audi has revealed the more practical version of its smallest car – the five-door Audi A1 Sportback. Visually, the five-door A1 looks just the same as the three-door A1 – with the obvious addition of a pair of back doors – but Audi has managed to 6mm in height and width which, they say, improves room in the back. Which it may, but as the length and wheelbase remain the same it won’t do anything for legroom.

Ford S-Max concept (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

This is new Ford S-Max MPV, in thinly veiled concept car form. In all but the spangliest details though, this is Ford’s sporty new MPV, ushering in a host of on-board tech features, and a new 1.5-litre Ecoboost petrol engine. The show car’s party pieces are health-monitoring gadgets, recording data like heart rates and glucose levels.

Ford gets another NO on Volvo

And the beat goes on… Ford has been trawling the world’s car manufacturers (and Governments) for what seems like forever, in an increasingly desperate attempt to off-load its Swedish subsidiary, Volvo. They appear to have tried everyone from the Swedish Government to BMW and Mercedes, with a fair dose of Chinese firms in between (has Ford offered to sell it to you yet? Don’t worry, it won’t be long!) And now Reuters are reporting that yet another Chinese Car Co has declined the offer.