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New 2015 Skoda Fabia revealed – well, sort of

The design sketch of the 2015 Skoda Fabia We’re not entirely sure we can consider the design sketch of the new Skoda Fabia (above) as a reveal of Skoda’s supermini, but it is a clue to what we can expect when the new Fabia arrives in the coming weeks. Skoda tell us that the new Fabia will be taking its design cues from the Vision C Concept we saw at Geneva – and the new Octavia –  and that is a new direction for Skoda  with added width and a flatter body creating, say Skoda, more harmonious proportions. Of course, the design sketch of the new Fabia has the usual artistic license to make it more dynamic than the reality will be, with the end product when it arrives likely to look much like a smaller version of Skoda’s latest efforts.

Motorcycle makers revved for rebound

Bikes are back. After being hit a lot harder by the recession than carmakers, the motorcycle industry, more susceptible to the whims of discretionary spending, is on its way back. “Unit sales are growing for the first time in several years,” said Danny Phillips, executive vice president of Advanstar, the parent company of Progressive International, which put on last weekend's motorcycle show at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Jaguar XE (2014): spec, information teased on Jag's baby

Jaguar has started what is sure to be a long, sustained dripfeed of information on its new XE compact exec saloon ahead of a planned debut on 8 September 2014. Today's announcement reveals some of the engineering secrets of the Jaguar XE and is designed to whet the appetites of those premium car buyers ready for a change from their 3-series, A4s and C-classes. The Jag XE borrows suspension from elsewhere in the family, the company confirmed today.