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Good news for British car factories

NEW FIGURES have revealed that UK-based car production raced ahead in April, resulting in the biggest monthly rise since July 2012. A total of 133,437 cars were made in the UK last month – a 21.3% increase on the April 2013 figure, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. The excellent April figures took the year-so-far total to 538,240 – a 6.9% rise on the figure for January-April 2013.

1970s supercars

By Tim Pollard and Ben Oliver 10 July 2008 16:02 Supercars in the Seventies Lamborghini continued to define the supercar in the ’70s, building on the success of the dramatic Miura with the brutal and startling silhouette of the Countach. But Lambo’s nemesis Ferrari was never far behind, and the two Italian thoroughbreds dominated the market, with a succession of beautiful supercars throughout the decade. Despite the threat of the global oil crisis, the Germans started to muscle in on supercar territory with the rare BMW M1 and Porsche's upstart sports car, the 911 Turbo.Browse our GBU-style pick of the decade's landmarks below – and vote for your favourite supercar decade in our poll Make and model Year Price Engine 0-60mph Top speed 1973  £14,610   4390cc flat 12, 360bhp, 311lb ft   5.4sec  175mph For   Pininfarina's styling set the look for Ferraris until well  into the 1980s   Against   Ferrari's answer to the Miura arrived seven years late Verdict   A seminal Ferrari for styling and engineering, too often overlooked   Ferrari's first mid-engined V12 was good enough to stay in production for nine years, bridging the huge gap between the Sixties Daytona and the Testarossa of the Eighties Related Articles:    Other Ferrari stories    Make and model Year Price Engine 0-60mph Top speed Porsche 911 Turbo  1974 £14,749 2994cc flat six, 260bhp, 253lb ft 6.0sec 155mph For   The car that took the 911 into supercar territory; a legend was born Against   Everything you've heard about the handling of early cars is an  understatement.

Driving the Chevy Volt isn't special, and that's good

We've had our first taste of the drive system under development for General Motors' pioneering Chevrolet Volt, piloting a test mule based on the Chevrolet Cruze at the company's Warren (Mich.) Technical Center, and it left us hungering for more. Yes, it's an electric car, but mostly, it's a car--one you could imagine driving every day without feeling as if you were engaged in a lab experiment. Frank Weber, vehicle line executive for the Volt, gets his nose out of joint if you call the drive system a hybrid.