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2014 Land Rover Defender Challenge announced

By Damion Smy Motor Industry 30 October 2013 12:01 Land Rover has confirmed that it is the official sponsor of the 2014 ‘Defender Challenger by Bowler’, which will see a field of up to 15 tricked-up Defender 90s hit the rough stuff as crews get down and dirty, Dakar style. It’s all about enticing those who are curious about rally raids, such as the legendary Dakar event that’s held early each year. A lack of experience, as well as costs, has made it difficult for novices looking to qualify for the necessary licence, so the Defender Challenge is ideal for rally wannabes looking to dip a toe in the water, so to speak, with no experience required to enter.

Mercedes-Benz axes Maybach

High ranking Mercedes-Benz sources have confirmed to Autoweek that the underperforming Maybach brand will be officially killed off in 2013. The decision to disband Mercedes-Benz’s upper luxury marque comes after a decade of disappointing sales for the Maybach 57 and 62 and a recent decision from the German car maker’s chairman Dieter Zetsche not to push ahead with the development replacement models – the likes of which were tentatively due out in 2014 – owing to what one insider describes as a “positive move to focus greater attention on the Mercedes-Benz brand” . “We’ve come to the conclusion that it is better to cut our losses with Maybach than to continue into an uncertain future with a brand that has failed to live up to original sales expectations," the insider said.

Kia sell their 500,000th car in the UK – a cee’d ‘4’ 1.6 CRDi

Dale & Amy Pollard receive the keys to Kia’s 500,000th UK car Kia arrived in the UK in 1991 as a seller of budget cars, but in recent years Kia, along with sister company Hyundai, has moved very much in to the mainstream, with a range of credible cars that now sell on merit, not just price. That turn round for Kia has seen sales rising strongly to the point where they have now sold 5000,000 Kias since the marque first arrived in the UK. The milestone car is a cee’d ‘4’ 1.6 CRDi and has been delivered to a married couple in Leicester - Dale and Amy Pollard – who got a bit of special treatment from their Kia dealers - Kia Sandicliffe – at a handover ceremony attended by Stuart Wardle from Kia and Sandicliffe’s John Marsh.