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New car sales up again in October (2013). Should hit 2.25 million by year end

The Ford Fiesta (pictured) tops the UK new car list in October It’s another growing month for car sales in the UK, with SMMT reporting that new car sales in the UK for October 2013 rose by 4 per cent to 157,314 and registrations for 2013 so far up 10.2 per cent to 1,952,238. This is the 20th month in a row that new car registrations have increased, forcing the SMMT to increase its forecast for total 2013 sales to 2.25 million. Topping the sales charts is once again the Ford Fiesta which sold 8,574 – 65 per cent more than the Vauxhall Corsa in second place.

Ford Start concept (w/ Gallery)

Ford unveiled the Start concept at Auto China last week. Designed at Ford's California-based Strategic Concept Group under the direction of Freeman Thomas, the concept demonstrates that a compact car can also be pragmatic and functional. "I'm an enthusiast of minimalism but it should not be cold," Thomas said of the design when we met him in Beijing.

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.