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New car sales in UK still growing – up 14.8% April 2013. Driven by PPI Claims?

It is quite hard to fathom just how UK new car sales (well, registrations) continue to rise inexorably against a backdrop of otherwise stagnant economic activity, but they do. April 2013 has seen a total of 163,357 new car registrations, up a huge 14.8 per cent on April 2012 and the best figure since 2008, and these sales figures are not being driven by fleet buyers but by private motorists – private sector registrations grew by 32.3 per cent in April and are up by 15.2 per cent year to date. Not surprisingly, it’s the Superminis that are performing strongly – although all sectors are showing a rise – and it’s the Ford Fiesta that continues to be the best seller in the UK with sales of over 8,000 in April and over 42,000 so far in 2013, and the rise of superminis has also seen an increase in sales of petrol-engined cars thanks to the wave of small capacity, frugal petrol options.

CAR's guide to the 2008 New York auto show

By Ben Pulman Motor Shows 20 March 2008 12:23 Click here for all the latest new cars and news from the New York auto show our handy A-Z. CAR Online is bringing you all the new cars that count, including coupes from Hyundai, Pontiac and Scion. Pontiac has also unleashed some big V8 brutes, and GM has told CAR why the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid must exist.

Mazda3

These are the first images of the new Mazda3 sedan, set to make its public debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. This is the first complete redesign of the Mazda3 (known as Mazda Axela in Japan) since its introduction five years ago. Utlizing design cues first seen in its larger sibling, the Mazda6, the dynamic redesign adds an air of masculinity to the small Mazda3, a car which, according to the Japanese company, has 'had every element developed for heightened exhilaration'.