Toyota Yaris 2015-2020 Ignition Coil on 2040-parts.com

German new car sales drop 11 per cent – pre-reg accounts for 33.5 per cent

New car sales in Germany dropped by 11 per cent in September with pre-reg cars accounting for over a third of all sales. That drop of 11 per cent in Germany is despite deep discount offers – an average of 12.2 per cent in September – with even the previously invincible Mercedes and VW having to offer discounts of up to €3k, despite which VW’s sales fell by 20 per cent in Germany and Mercedes by 12 per cent. What’s perhaps most interesting about the decline in car sales in Germany is the number of pre-reg cars sold (pre reg cars are cars registered by dealers to hit sales targets and then sold at a discount of up to 25 per cent).

Hyundai Motorsport Facility opens in Germany

Hyundai’s new Motorsport facility in Germany No one can accuse Hyundai of not taking their return to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014 seriously. They’re busy preparing an i20 to take on the WRC, starting in Monte Carlo in January 2014, and have now started testing their swift WRC i20 in preparation. They’ve already recruited some impressive names to join their new Hyundai Motorsport GmbH team including Michel Nandan to head up their WRC efforts who has been joined by Frenchmen Bertrand Vallat and Stephane Girad, Alain Penasse, Ernst Kopp and Stefan Henrich.

Toyota overhauls engine plans

For years, Toyota Motor Corp. has put hybrids at the center of its powertrain-technology strategy, all but oblivious to the rapid fuel-economy advancements rivals have made in the humble gasoline engine. Meanwhile, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, Volkswagen and others have turned to gasoline direct fuel injection and turbochargers.