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City cars and superminis dominate the latest residual values 'top 10' published by the used-car experts behind Glass’s Guide.
The Peugeot 107 is Britain’s best when it comes to fending off depreciation, holding on to 60.9 per cent of its original list price after three years, placing it just ahead of the near-identical Toyota Aygo (60.2 per cent) and the Suzuki Swift (59.5 per cent). The outcome is attributed to these cars’ high fuel efficiency and low vehicle excise duty (or ‘road tax’) costs, as well as the fact that prime examples fall into the £5,000-£6,000 price band – all key considerations for retail buyers.
The 107's rival, the Citroen C1 (59.2 per cent) and the BMW MINI (58.9 per cent) complete the top five.
Bucking the trend in sixth place overall is the Ferrari F430 – which leads the exotic sports sector, while Volkswagen’s Eos coupe-convertible (9th) and the Ford S-MAX MPV (10th) are other larger cars to fare well.
Commenting on the results, Adrian Rushmore, Managing Editor at Glass’s, says,...
Citroen has taken the wraps off it’s eagerly-awaited supermini - the DS3 - which the French firm hopes will give the brand a major image boost by challenging the Mini and Fiat 500.
First seen as a concept that was the star of this year’s Geneva show, the DS3 will be available in five engines, consisting of two diesels and three petrol motors. The diesels are 1.6-litre HDi units with either 90bhp or 110bhp
As with the MINI, DS3 buyers will be able to choose from a wide line-up of personalisation options – such as a range of contrasting roof colours.
Available kit includes a gearchange indicator to help drivers shift up at the most efficient point, sat-nav, an MP3-compatible CD player, Bluetooth and a new hi-fi with a speaker mounted in the upper part of the dashboard plus a sub-woofer in the boot.
Buyers can expect to pay from around £12,000 when the DS3 hits UK showrooms in March. The car will get its first public airing at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show alongside the all-new C3. A C4-sized DS4 and a...
Kia have revealed further details of the all-new Venga model which will go on sale in the UK in February.
Kia claims the mini MPV has the space of a Focus with the footprint of a Fiesta, making it a rival for cars such as the Citroen C3 Picasso and Nissan Note.
The Venga will come with a choice two petrol engines – a 1.4 or a 1.6 – and a 1.6-litre diesel producing between 74bhp and 113bhp. All versions get start-stop technology.
A bright and airy cabin is expected, thanks to a tilt-and-slide all-glass panoramic roof, while all versions will have a 60/40 split rear seat that folds flat into the floor.
"This is exactly the kind of vehicle UK motorists are looking for as we emerge from the recent economic turmoil – a fantastically flexible package providing big-car comfort and space within a compact package," said Michael Cole, managing director of Kia UK.
The Venga will be officially unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show next month, with sales in the UK expected start early 2010.
Renault has unveiled details and prices of the new Megane Sport Tourer.
The larger Megane will hit UK showrooms in November and will features no fewer than 21 different models, all with a boot capacity of 1600-litre.
There is a comprehensive range of engines available – five diesels and five petrols – ranging from a 84bhp 1.5-litre oil-burner to a 178bhp petrol.
The Sport Tourer comes in four trim levels: Expression, Dynamique, TomTom Edition and Privilege.
Even the basic Expression trim gets plenty of kit, including air conditioning, front and rear curtain airbags, ESP, folding front passenger seat, front and rear electric windows, and keyless entry.
The range-topping Privilege provides luxurious family motoring, adding dual-zone climate control, and electric folding mirrors.
The Megane Sport Tourer will costs between £15,485 to £22,785.
The number of new cars made in the UK in July was down 17.9 per cent compared with the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
But the drop, to 107,635 cars, was the smallest of the year so far. The SMMT said that reflected the impact of scrappage schemes throughout Europe.
"The UK motor industry is starting to stabilise, but remains fragile," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
Car production for the year to the end of July was down 45.8 per cent at 518,375.
Ford’s recent European sales successes have given the company its highest market share in a decade
Year-on-year European new car sales in its 19 key markets were up five per cent in July to 125,200, a rise that saw Ford’s market share increase by 0.6 per cent to nine per cent.
Ford has gained market share every month this year in Europe partly because it is benefitting from recent introductions of new or redesigned small cars - including the Fiesta and the Ka.
Both are affordable vehicles that are especially appealing to European buyers who are eligible for scrappage discounts.
As a result, Ingvar Sviggum, Ford of Europe's head of marketing, sales and service, said scrappage incentives should be phased out gradually to avoid a big drop in demand.
"We strongly believe that these incentive schemes should continue for as long as practically possible, and then be phased out in an orderly manner to avoid any dramatic reduction in market demand that could damage the still-fragile improvement we have seen in recent...
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it does not intend to launch a criminal investigation into the collapse of carmaker MG Rover.
Its announcement comes a month after Business Secretary Lord Mandelson asked the SFO to study the results of a four-year independent report into the saga.
Midlands-based MG Rover collapsed in 2005 with the loss of 6,500 jobs.
The SFO said that it could not comment about the reasons for its decision because the inspectors' report had not been made public. It will be released on 11 September.
The government's four-year investigation focused on what went wrong between the sale of the company in 2000 to a consortium, Phoenix Ventures, and its collapse five years later with the loss of 6,000 jobs.
MG Rover folded in April 2005 with debts of more than one billion pounds. Chinese company Nanjing Automobile went on to buy its assets, reviving the MG sports car brand.
Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover has told the UK government it no longer needs support for the carmaker, after obtaining private funding through a series of direct bank loans, as well as guarantees that would allow it access to a £340m European Investment Bank loan.
In a letter to Lord Mandelson, Tata chairman Ratan Tata said he hoped the funding that had been secured would help it "succeed in re-establishing these venerable British brands to their earlier glory".
Government funding had been offered but did not materialise, after a failure to agree terms of any cash injection.
Business secretary Peter Mandelson said the development was "welcome".
He added that the additional funding would allow investment in future models and for the XJ saloon to be launched on schedule.
"This is a good and encouraging outcome for JLR, its workforce and its supply chain," he added, saying the government had offered bridging finance, and would be "willing to help again if necessary".
Tata bought Jaguar Land...
Almost 155,000 new cars have been ordered through the government's scrappage scheme since it was launched in May - meaning that more than half of the money set aside to fund the scheme has already been spent.
The Government had said that the scheme would run until February 28, 2010 or until the £300 million was exhausted, which ever came first. It now seems that the scheme will come to an end much earlier than originally thought.
Analysts say the scheme contributed to the rise in UK car sales in July, which was the first increase in monthly sales since April last year.
Drivers in south east England have been the keenest to take part in the scheme - which gives owners of ten-year-old vehicles £2,000 towards the cost of a new car -
making up 18 per cent of orders.
The were followed by east of England consumers (12 per cent), drivers in north west England (11 per cent) and south west England (11 per cent).
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "I'm pleased that we have already achieved over 150,000 new...
Volkswagen has announced the prices of the new five-door Polo, which is available to order now from UK dealers and officially goes on sale on October 16.
The fifth-generation Polo is available with a choice of three petrol and two diesel engines. Two 1.2-litre petrol units are on offer, producing 59bhp and 69bhp and a 1.4-litre petrol unit, which produces 84bhp.
Completing the range are two 1.6-litre common rail TDI units, which produce 74bhp and 89bhp. A new 1.2-litre turbocharged TSI petrol engine, which produces 104bhp, will be available from early next year.
VW is offering four trim levels for the new Polo – S, Moda, SE and SEL – and GTI and Bluemotion models will appear in 2010. Every model gets four airbags, ESP and ABS, while higher spec models are equipped with features including sat-nav, DAB digital radio and electronic climate control.
In order of power output, the S versions cost £10,035 and £10,645, while the Modas are £1350 more expensive than that.
VW is predicting sales of around 7000 units...