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Essex boost for car loving home buyers

An Essex council is to make garages and drives bigger on new homes For most of the last decade the UK Government has waged a war on the motorist. Endless speed cameras, which are in reality just tax-raising  machines and have little to do with road safety; never-ending fuel tax rises; congestion charging; spiralling parking charges; road-charging schemes and the only coppers you see have a speed gun so non-speeding untaxed and uninsured drivers never get caught -  pushing up costs for the rest of us. But one of the most stupid, head-in-the-sand policies was the idea that new houses should encourage people to forsake their cars by making garages too small and off-street parking almost non-existent.

Audi plans expansion of hybrids, electrics

Audi plans a rapid expansion of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles over the next few years as a key component in Volkswagen Group's strategy to dominate the alternative-powertrain market by decade's end. Michael Dick, Audi's board member for technical development, told Automotive News that the next-generation A6 sedan will have the potential to be a full hybrid by the end of 2012. The A6 would join the recently introduced hybrid A8 sedan at the Geneva auto show and the soon-to-be-launched Q5 hybrid crossover.

First Sight: Mercedes-Benz S-Class W222

It was one of the more memorable automotive events this year, and the massive thunderstorm only added to the drama. Last night Mercedes-Benz launched its new S-Class sedan in the delivery hall of Airbus in Hamburg and Car Design News was there to get the low-down on this eagerly-awaited limo. Context was fittingly provided by an A380 lounging in the background as the current lineup of Mercedes-Benz escorted Benz's big boy onto the stage, amidst artificial fireworks and real thunder and lightning.