Vibrant 2458 on 2040-parts.com

Kia Provo upsets Northern Ireland

The Kia Provo Concept for a funky urban car has run in to trouble in Northern Ireland as its name evokes the Troubles. Looking like a Kia take on the Juke – although we think Kia see it more as a take on the MINi Countryman / MINI Paceman – it looks like a perfect direction for Kia to take with a ready market for butch little cars for blatting round town growing all the time. But you can’t please all the people all the time, and Kia has run in to trouble with the Provo already, as Unionist MPs in Northern Ireland have taken exception to the name.

AA warns of automated penalties

DRIVERS are still suffering a year on from the time most wheelclampers were banned from operating in private car parks, according to the AA. Twelve months on, parking enforcement firms are reaping large sums from issuing automated "penalty" tickets. The AA said that while Communities Minister Eric Pickles is reining in local authorities who over-zealously use CCTV, private parking operators now rely heavily on this technology and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to watch drivers and issue tickets through the post when they put a foot wrong in parking areas.

Maserati Levante SUV confirmed for 2015 – Alfieri could arrive in 2016

The Maserati Levante SUV (pictured) will arrive in 2015 Fiat’s plans top revive the Maserati brand are off to a good start after sales grew strongly last year to more than 22,500 cars in the first nine months with the new Quattroporte and new Ghibli contributing strongly to those figures. But with a target of 50,000 sales a year, Maserati need new models too and the next in line for production is the Maserati Levante SUV, which Sergio Marchionne has now confirmed will arrive in production guise in 2015. It was expected the Levante would be a re-working of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, but with the Grand Cherokee selling in droves – and with a desire to make the Levante as ‘Italian’ as possible – it now looks like the Levante will get a version of the platform underpinning the Ghibli and use Maserati’s own 4WD system.