Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

Volkswagen Taigun concept

Volkswagen has unveiled its new Taigun concept car at the Sao Paolo motor show, previewing a future B-segment SUV. The Taigun continues VW's new SUV aesthetic, first shown on last year's Cross Coupe concept, with a similar, full-width grille and lamp and very strong horizontal feature lines. Unlike the crossover Cross Coupe however, the Taigun follows a more traditional, upright SUV format.

Corvette Performance Data Recorder lets owners brag, and back it up

The last time Cosworth partnered directly with Chevrolet, the world saw the Cosworth Vega. "I had one of those," said Hal Reisiger, CEO of Cosworth. "In 1978 I put a 327 in one of those.