Toyota Auris 2007 Coil Spring [8657550] on 2040-parts.com

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.

Ferrari Enzo replacement (F70) will get V12

Ferrari F70 (New Enzo) to get V12 It seems to be taking forever for Ferrari to bring the replacement for the Enzo to the market. And that has meant endless speculation (guilty as charged) about what exactly the new Enzo will have to offer. As far back as 2009, we spoke to one of Ferrari’s ‘Favoured’ customers who, even then, had received the call from Maranello asking if he would like to be one of the lucky recipients of the new Enzo.

Fourth Chinese Auto Design Competition launched

The fourth Chinese Auto Design Contest officially launched in Beijing last week. Sponsored by China's Society of Automotive Engineers, the China Industrial Design Association, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Beijing Fengtai District People's Government, the competition is the largest and most authoritative state-level professional event. Held biennially, this year's Chinese Auto Design competition is divided into two categories: Design Innovation (which judges current vehicles created by automakers) and Creative Design.