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First MINI Coupé rolls off the production line

MINI Coupe - first production car rolls out at Cowley We’ve only recently had the reveal of the new MINI Coupe – well, the production car reveal, that is. We had the first reveal of the MINI Coupe Concept nearly two years ago and, despite the production MINI Coupe looking almost exactly the same as the concept, MINI managed to do the production reveal in two stages – one with swirly disguise round the rump followed by a full reveal a week or three later. Still, all the pre-production marketing flim-flam out of the way, MINI are getting down to actually making the car that promises to be the most fun (modern) MINI so far, and the very first MINI Coupe has now rolled off the production line at Cowley – cue PR opportunity.

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.

Drivers 'not prepared for winter'

MANY DRIVERS are poorly prepared for the perils of winter motoring, according to the Highways Agency. As many as 45% of motorists do not make vehicle checks before the onset of bad weather and 28% do not take emergency kits. The agency's research also revealed that 53% of drivers do not even carry a de-icer.