Vauxhall Corsa VXR (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 03 January 2007 00:01 Vauxhall Corsa VXR: the lowdown Vauxhall will unleash its hottest-ever supermini in March: the 190bhp Corsa VXR. In keeping with the UK-only VXR branding, the hot hatch will be spruced up with a butch bodykit, a series of chassis tweaks and a turbocharged version of Vauxhall's 1.6-litre engine. Vauxhall's previous sporting superminis have left us lukewarm, but this latest one promises some fireworks in the engine department: the company quotes 0-62mph in just 6.8sec, and it tops out at 140mph.

UK 2011 car sales analysis: winners and losers

The UK car market fell 4.4% in 2011 to its worst year for at least a decade. Brits bought 1,941,253 vehicles last year as private motorists put off that new car purchase and stuck with their existing wheels or went secondhand. Retail sales took the brunt of the fall, with a 14% collapse on 2010's figures.

8th L'Argus Design Competition announced

From 1 June 2009, design students will be invited to take part in the eighth annual L'Argus European Design Competition, which this year takes as its theme 'Less is More: Traveling in the Era of Simplicity'. Questioning students on the concepts of mobility and the future of automobile design, this contest - organized by French magazine L'Argus de L'Automobile - will run until 11 December 2009 and culminate in an awards ceremony on 20 January 2010. The competition is open to students attending design colleges within the European Union and Switzerland, including non-automotive courses covering disciplines such as industrial design, fine arts and architecture.