Fiat has given the Croma a makeover and relaunched it as the Nuova (New) Croma. The company describes the car as " even more dynamic thanks to a number of styling changes introduced by the Fiat Style Centre." The front of the Nuova Croma features original drop-shaped Bravo-style headlights, highlighted by a burnished finish and a new front air inlet and grille with wide links and a Chrome Shadow paint finish. Full Article

New research has discovered that a large number of expensive luxury cars are being registered as private hire vehicles in London. An investigation by www.cleangreencars.co.uk has discovered that amongst the list of cars you are not likely to see parked under the flashing yellow light of a minicab office are Aston Martins, Bentleys and even Rolls-Royce Phantoms. By paying an £82 application fee and £27 per year licence, owners can avoid paying the £8 per day Congestion Charge. Full Article

The unique Mercedes-Benz World (MBW) at Brooklands reaches its anniversary next month, and is throwing a party to celebrate. The celebrations take place on Sat 3rd and Sun 4th - and everyone is invited. Visitors to the centre over that weekend will have the opportunity to enter into a prize draw for the chance to win an exhilarating ride in the legendary Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.As well as the SLR gracing the handling circuits all weekend, MBW will be unveiling the brand new Silver Arrows AMG Display Team. Full Article

Following the up! concept shown last month at Frankfurt, Volkswagen has revealed the longer wheelbase space up! at the Tokyo Motor Show. The interior features four individual seats, three of which can either be folded or removed completely to allow for up to 1,005 litres of luggage space. Access to the boot area in confined spaces is made easier through the adoption of a pair of side hinging rear doors intersected by a Volkswagen roundel. Full Article

Skoda has revealed the recipe for the life-sized cake car featured in its latest TV advert. Skoda enlisted the help of the country's finest chocolatiers, bakers and bricklayers to construct the scrumptious Fabia and the attention to detail was pretty impressive. From the sugar-dusted white roof down to the treacle-filled engine, the cake car is as close to the real thing as it's possible to get with sponge. Full Article

MINI hatch models are to receive technological revisions later this year, resulting in improved performance and efficiency figures. Already BMW Group's cleanest ever car, the MINI Cooper D will be capable of returning 72.4mpg, with CO2 emissions of just 104 g/km. Even the high-performance Cooper S will emit just 149 g/km - down from 164. When production of the revised models begins in August 2007, all variants will be supplied as standard with high-tech engine tweaks plus Brake Energy Regeneration, Auto Start-Stop Function and Switch Point Display at no extra cost. Full Article

Nissan Motor Co.'s new Qashqai model has been awarded the maximum five-star rating for adult occupant protection from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP). The crossover SUV was awarded 36.83 points out of a maximum 37 points by the independent crash test organisation, receiving almost full scores in Euro NCAP's strict front and side impact tests, as well as a full score for seatbelt reminders. Full Article

SEAT has released the first pictures and details of the rugged new Altea freetrack, which will make its world debut at the Barcelona Motor Show on 7th June. The Altea freetrack is the first SEAT designed to be driven off-road, and as such features Haldex-type four-wheel drive, 40 mm of extra ground clearance and 4x4-inspired body addendum over and above the Altea XL, on which the new model is based. The newcomer will only feature powerful 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines - a 200 PS T FSI and 170 PS TDI. Full Article

National Car Rental is to offer customers a more environmentally friendly driving option in the shape of the innovative Toyota Prius. The Prius is the world's most successful hybrid power vehicle and the cleanest family car on the road today, likely to make this a popular addition to the National fleet. The new fleet of vehicles are exempt from the London Congestion Charge and will initially be made available to National's corporate customers in and around the London area. Full Article

After a much publicised restyling, the Subaru Tribeca has bounced back with a five star crash rating in the US. The US Tribeca received the highest rating in the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash tests. The Subaru Tribeca received 5-stars in both the frontal and side- impact crash tests for both the driver and passenger seating positions. Full Article

Skoda's New Fabia will be on sale from the 17th May, with seven engines, three trim levels and new features to tempt British buyers. Prices start at £7,990 for the 1.2-litre Fabia 1 model and range up to £13,015 for the 105bhp 1.9-litre TDI PD Fabia 3. Insurance groupings start at a lowly group 1 for the former and rise to group 4 for the latter. In basic Skoda fashion, trim levels are simply named 1, 2 and 3. The Fabia 1 gets dual front and side airbags, ABS, central locking, electric front windows and an immobiliser as standard. Full Article

The new 9-3 range features new styling, inspired by the Saab Aero X concept car. With all-new bonnet, front bumper and wings, 'signature' lighting, new door panels and rear styling features, the latest generation 9-3 acquires a more focused, assertive stance. Most noticeable is the sharper frontal styling, which adopts grille and bonnet themes first seen on the Aero X concept, together with a return of Saab's classic 'clamshell' design. Full Article

An island off Papua New Guinea is using coconuts to power the local economy. Islanders living on Bougainville have developed mini-refineries to create a power source extracted from the locally grown plant. Cars, lorries and power generators can all run from the coconut oil, which has similar properties to diesel. The new fuel has generated interest from all over the world, putting Bougainville well and truly on the map. Like many remote places, the island was reliant on fuels imported from overseas at great expense. Shortages were commonplace. Full Article

Mercedes-Benz will in future also market its SLR McLaren super sports car in the form of a roadster with a top. In common with Formula 1 vehicles of today, it, too, will be made of carbon fibre, a material that will endow the vehicle with a very high degree of safety as well as extreme torsional stiffness at the same high level as the coupé version. The roof opens and closes semi-automatically in less than ten seconds, thereby combining the desire for convenience with the puristic character of the roadster. Full Article

The Peugeot 207 CC has been awarded a maximum Five Star Euro NCAP rating for occupant protection. Sharing the same platform as the Peugeot 1007 has given the 207 CC additional strength, but adding an active roll over protection system exceeds the requirements of Euro NCAP. The 207 CC borrows from the 407 the use of two impact absorption structures which distribute impact energy more efficiently in the event of a collision and also enhance reparability and pedestrian impact protection. Full Article

A new environmentally friendly vehicle company is offering alternative transport for Londoners. Future Vehicles offers a range of economical and Congestion Charge exempt vehicles aimed specifically at the city dweller. For those seeking a more traditional combustion vehicle, LPG cars are able to travel over 100 miles for the price of a gallon of petrol. Future Vehicles' Electric Mopeds have a top speed of 42mph and a range of up to 40 miles between charges. A full charge costs about 10p. Full Article

Italian coachbuilder Zagato has returned to the Villa d'Este with a world preview of the new Maserati GS Zagato. Paolo Boffi, a well-known entrepreneur in the furnishing and luxury design sector, commissioned a customised look for his Maserati GS Spyder. As a result, Zagato shaped a car with lines evoking the historical Maserati A6 G Zagato of 1954, a supercar at the top of many collector wish lists.The Maserati GS Zagato, like its celebrated ancestor, has all-aluminium bodywork and bears the Trident on the bonnet and the Z on the wing. For purists of the compact coupé, afficionados of the Milano-based brand, it is a two-volume, two-seater, hatchback with a streamlined profile and a neat tail.Full Article

The new MINI Cooper has received the highest-possible score of 5 stars in the Euro NCAP Crash Test. Good results in head-on and side-on/pillar crash tests showed risk of injury to occupants to be minimal. The new MINI Cooper achieved 13 out of 16 points for deformation behaviour in a head-on collision, and 16 from 18 points in the side-on and pillar collision. Child safety testing also produced impressive results. In the offset frontal crash test, the structure of the passenger cell was maintained. 4,000 individual welding points in the body shell optimise the MINI Cooper's structural safety. Full Article

A V12 four-seater 612 Scaglietti liveried in police colours is to be used when Ferrari's 60th Anniversary relay starts the UK leg on 18th April. The relay is part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of when the first Ferrari car was produced in 1947 by Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari has provided a dedicated 612 Scaglietti HGTS liveried in police colours, which will be driven by police officers at the front of the UK tour throughout the 1500 miles from Belfast to London. All of the police officers driving the 612 are volunteers from five forces across the UK, and are driving in their free time (not as part of their normal duty) to support the tour. Full Article

A new Bollywood movie featuring a selection of private car registrations has just reached the cinemas. Number plate specialist Regtransfers was asked to assist in finding suitable personal registrations for some of the movie's main characters. Namastey London, directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, tells the story of a young Indian girl living in England. Despite her enthusiasm for Britain and its way of life, and the fact that she already has a British boyfriend whom she intends to wed, Jazz (the girl) finds that her father has plans for her to marry a Punjabi boy. The word "Namaste" or "namastey" in the movie title is a respectful greeting, often used by Hindu and Sikh people as a polite "hello". Full Article

BMW UK has announced details of the new BMW M3 Coupé, a model that 21 years ago created an entirely new segment for super-high-performance compact cars. Originally powered by BMW's first 16-valve four-cylinder engine and subsequently by 3.0-litre and 3.2-litre powerplants, BMW M3 engines took top category honours on a record six successive occasions in the Engine of the Year awards. The new M3 Coupé engine develops 420hp at 8,300rpm and 400Nm of torque at 3,900rpm from its 3,999cc V8-power unit, and red-lines at 8,400rpm. Like its predecessor, the new V8-powered BMW M3 can go from zero to 62mph in 4.8 seconds and on to a limited top speed of 155mph. Full Article

Perodua have officially announced that the £1000 cashback offer on all Myvi Sxi and Ezi models will now stay open until the end of June. This means that a Myvi 1.3 Sxi (manual) can be purchased for £6,799 OTR and the Ezi (automatic) with the same specification for £7,499 OTR. Due to expire at the end of March, the £1000 cashback offer was originally introduced to celebrate the launch of the Myvi, Perodua's brand new 5-door supermini, in the UK last September. However, thanks to high demand for this new model, Perodua have decided to extend the offer for a second time, to ensure that customers waiting for vehicles to arrive will not miss out on this great price. Full Article

Kia Motors Corporation is staging the world premiere of its all-new KND-4 concept car at the Seoul International Motor Show. "The KND-4 is an exciting new concept which showcases Kia's passion for design and technology. It hints at the increasingly sophisticated styling and advanced technologies that will give our future products an even stronger and more distinctive road presence," commented Mr Yong-Hwan Kim, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of Kia Motors Corporation. "Over time, elements of this concept SUV will evolve into our next-generation lineup, ensuring continued popularity of our already competitive 4x4 models." Full Article

Research has uncovered a 'depreciation trap' affecting some of Britain's best-selling cars. EurotaxGlass's, the publisher of Glass's Guide has revealed that five-door variants of some family hatchback models suffer from significantly higher rates of depreciation than their three-door equivalents. For example, in the case of a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Design, a five-door model bought last March ('06-plate) would have had an identical list price to the three-door version. Yet just one year and 12,000 miles later the trade value of the five-door model is £1,250 less than the three-door. Full Article

The only thing missing from modern day motoring is a butler in the passenger seat, according to new research by an online insurance provider. The majority of the 1001 drivers polled by www.motorinsurance.co.uk treat their cars more like their homes, concentrating on anything but the road ahead. The biggest culprit is hunger. Two thirds (66%) of people admit to eating and drinking whilst behind the wheel. More bizarrely, we treat our driving seats like a bathroom, with nearly a third of drivers (31%) shaving whilst driving, 26% changing their clothes and 18% applying make-up behind the wheel. Full Article

Fifty years after Colin Chapman unveiled the first Seven, Caterham launches the latest in a long line of pure racing-bred British sportscars, the Superlight R400. Inspired by the track, and designed for the road, the R400 packs a mighty 400bhp per tonne punch thanks to the introduction of an engine tuned in-house by Caterham Motorsport. The new powerplant of the legendary R400 is a 210bhp 2.0 litre Ford Duratec based unit, set to reach 60mph in less than 3.8 seconds. The all-alloy unit produces 152lbs ft of torque at just 5,750 rpm. Full Article

To celebrate the success of Corvette in sports car racing, and in particular the prestigious Le Mans 24-Hour event, a limited run of just 250 'Victory Edition' Corvette Coupes is being produced. Since Corvette Racing made its debut in 1999, the team has won more than 50 races, including five class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2001 and 2006. The Corvette Victory Edition is priced at £51,285. The Victory Edition Corvette is based on the Corvette C6 Coupe, which shares strong links with the Corvette C6.R race car and the high performance Corvette Z06. Full Article

Toyota is introducing some feature changes for the Avensis range this spring, most notably upgrading the standard satellite navigation. The new system will feature on the T3-S, T4, T Spirit and T180 grades and change from a turn-by-turn to a full-map, touch-screen system. Planning and following your route is made easier than ever thanks to enhanced graphics displayed on a 6.5-inch LCD monitor with 32,000-colour fine resolution map. Landmark buildings are shown in 3D effect and a city and motorway lane guidance function helps ensure you move to the right lane at the right time at complex intersections. Full Article

In keeping with most typical undergraduate lifestyles and budgets, a student has created a car made from biodegradable components. Eco One however is an environmentally-friendly race car with a shell made from hemp, tyres made from potatoes and brake pads made from cashew nut shells. Created at the University of Warwick, the car also runs entirely on bio-fuels and bio-lubricants. Designed originally with a top speed of 125mph, project manager Ben Wood has 'tweaked' the original Formula Student engine and claims he can achieve up to 150mph - given a long straight and a tailwind. Full Article

Porsche has raised its stake in Volkswagen (VW) to 30.9%, triggering a takeover bid as required by German law. Contrary to expectations however, Porsche was quick to clarify it did not want to take a majority stake in Volkswagen. The law in Germany states that any holdings above 30% require a takeover bid be initiated. The German sportscar maker would therefore offer only the minimum price required by law.Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO of Porsche, said the move was designed to protect his company from hedge funds, which could dismantle Volkswagen. Full Article

After 12 months of highly secretive development, the Caparo T1, which looks and performs like a Formula One car, will be launched in the summer with a new and more powerful engine than previously mooted. The higher specification is reflected in a launch price for the T1 of £180,000 plus taxes. The bespoke lightweight, all aluminium V8 has a higher capacity of 3.5 litres and is now normally aspirated. The engine has a mass of less than 100kgs and can produce power outputs of up to 200bhp-per-litre. Full Article

Fiat has offered registered users a sneaky peek at the new Fiat 500, a day earlier than anticipated. Members registered with the promotional website fiat500.com are able to view an animated video featuring the hotly anticipated new supermini. The short animation enables users to view the inside and out of the new Fiat 500 from various angles. The Italian carmaker is set to release full details about the new car on Thursday 22nd March.Full Article

Visitors to the Eden Project's Sexy Green Car Show will see vehicles spanning Ford's rich biofuel heritage - a 1920s Ford Model T, the latest Ford Focus flexifuel vehicles and a Formula Ford racing car. All of these can be driven on bioethanol, a renewable transport fuel which is produced from UK-grown crops and which offers technologically the easiest move towards carbon neutral motoring. In 1916 Ford Motor Company's visionary founder Henry Ford said: "All the world is waiting for a substitute for petrol. The day is not far distant when, for every one of those barrels of petrol, a barrel of ethanol must be substituted." Full Article

Despite commercial deployment being at least two decades away, hydrogen powered vehicles are already having an impact on today's automobile market. This is one of the conclusions of a report published this week by Cambridge, UK based analysts CarbonFree. The report highlights examples of automobile manufacturers and energy companies experimenting with hydrogen powered automobiles to add a shade of green to their existing brands. However, CarbonFree believes it would be difficult for incumbent players to commercialise these next generation vehicles without cannibalising revenue from existing products. Full Article

Daihatsu's cute Copen sports car has become more potent with a new 1.3 litre engine. The popular roadster also benefits from higher gearing to enhance refinement and a sharp new price of only £10,995 on-the-road. Originally conceived for the Japanese Kei-car market only, the UK's importer, Daihatsu Vehicle Distributors Limited, persuaded the factory to re-engineer the tiny 660 cc turbo petrol engine to comply with European Whole Vehicle Type Approval. Full Article

Tickets are now available for the Ferrari Racing Days spectacular at Silverstone from 8-9-10 June 2007. The meet will feature the UK round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli with over 30 equally matched Ferrari F430 Challenge cars jostling for position on one of the fastest F1 Grand Prix circuits. The ultra-exclusive FXX which will also be making its only official UK appearance. Ferrari Racing Days will be an action-packed weekend of Ferrari festivities which will appeal to Ferrari clients and the ever-faithful Tifosi. Full Article

BMW engineers have used two decades of M3 experience to create the new M3 Concept Car. The concept study presented to the public for the first time at the 77th International Motor Show in Geneva gives a first impression of what a future BMW M3 might look like. The BMW M3 Concept Car, with its Chrome Shadow exterior finish characteristic of previous BMW concept studies, is a derivative of the new 3 Series Coupé. However, few components are adopted directly from the 'standard' model. Just the headlights, rear light clusters, the two doors and the boot lid are carried over.Full Article

Citroën has teamed up with the world famous Espera Sbarro School to develop the remarkable Cruise Crosser all-terrain concept car. A vehicle to tackle the roughest possible road and weather conditions, the Cruise Crosser will be unveiled on the Espera Sbarro stand at this year's Geneva Motor Show. Based on Citroën's first SUV, the C-Crosser, that will also make its world debut at Geneva, prior to going on sale later this year, this new concept features three axles and six wheels to provide outstanding traction to tackle even the harshest of off-road conditions.The Cruise Crosser invokes the spirit of the early 1900s when Andre Citroën, Full Article