MJ09KOP -King of Pop

A distraught Michael Jackson fan has bought a tribute personalised registration plate from DVLA personalised registrations. Hitchin student, Michael Slater, bought MJ09KOP as fitting tribute to his hero. He spotted this combination on the DVLA personalised registrations website and snapped it up quickly.

However, as he is still a learner driver, it will be some time before he can attach it to his car so at the moment it is sitting on his bedroom wall. Thomas said “Don’t ask me why, but I immediately went on line and had to play with the DVLA’s search facility and to my delight MJ09KOP was available. It only cost £390, being able to have his initials, the year of his death and the letters KOP for King of Pop as a registration for my car will always be with me, even though I won’t be able to afford a car suitable for it for some time”.

Damian Lawson, DVLA Personalised Registrations’ Marketing Manager, said; “I take my hat off to Thomas’s ingenuity. With more than 30 million registrations on our database, his quick thinking and clever use of available letters and numbers gifted him his personal tribute to Michael Jackson”.

Alfa Romeo MiTo

Contract hire is basically a form of renting a car or van for a fixed period. You agree the contract period, at the annual mileage you will perform at. Then just order your new car or van with the leasing company and take delivery of your new vehicle.

However in order to get the best out of contract hire, rather than choosing the exact model you want (as you would normally do when you buy a vehicle with cash, PCP, HP or finance lease), try selecting the rental you want to pay instead and choose your favourite manufacturer brands.

The biggest factor in how a contract hire rental is calculated is the resale value that the leasing company has forecasted when setting their price.

So try the contract hire £ shopper and choose the brands that you like for example Audi, BMW, Honda and Mercedes, by ticking the manufacturers you like. Select how much you want to pay and then whether it is for business or personal contract hire.

You will be really surprised at the differences in rental prices, for cars that cost different amounts. When you contract hire a vehicle the purchase price doesn’t matter as much, as it is the total cost of the car over the contract life that affects the rental.

Not only that but you will see prices compared from some of the top car finance companies in the UK.

Subaru 2.0D Sure Trak

Subaru (UK) Ltd is launching a limited edition of the Forester in July and is making only 150 units of the model. The new car is packed with loads of extras and the Subaru Forester 20D Sure Trak is based on the best selling 2.0D XC variant.

The limited edition model adds rear privacy glass, full leather interior, ultrasonic rear parking sensors, electric folding door mirrors, front and rear underguards, foldable protective cargo tray, re-designed instrument cluster plus a suspension upgrade for even better road handling.

The new car comes in two external colours, Dark Grey Metallic and Spark Silver Metallic. The trademark Symmetrical AWD and Subaru Dynamics Control plus ABS with EBD, emergency brake assist, eight airbags, ISOFIX child seat mountings offers great road safety credentials coupled to the well established Subaru build quality.

smart

smart is going to be taking over the Mercedes-Benz World venue for the 2009 smart festival on Saturday the 12th September. Last year over 1200 models of the iconic car attended the 10th anniversary and with its impressive fuel economy and low CO2 emissions, the smart is becoming even more popular.

The smart festival is part of the “smart social scene” and there will be various awards for “Most Modified”, “Best Kept” and “Best Dressed” smart plus the latest smart products on show. If you are a smart fan then details of the event can be found at www.thesmart.co.uk/festival

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director Mercedes-Benz Cars said ” Our UK smart festival continues to be one of the world’s biggest smart gatherings. It truly captures the concept of smart culture and continues to be “the” event to attend in the smart calendar”.

The smart social community club can also be found at www.destinationsmart.co.uk

Iveco EURODAILY

It is only a month since Iveco launched their new light commercial van which combined environmental credentials with great performance. The van is now being used at the G8 summit in L’Aquila , Italy with the electric version of the ECODAILY being used to support Italy’s Civil Protection department.

There are also 10 Iveco Massif 4x4s also being used for the more trickier terrain conditions. Completing the fleet line-up at the disposal of the G8 attendees are 80 Iveco Irisbus vehicles (50 coaches and 30 minibuses) plus Evadys, Proxys and Daily Tourys. All of the vehicles are part of a broader supply that the Fiat Group, in its role as the main sponsor, provided to support the G8 summit. Iveco contract hire prices are also available now on UK models.

Fiat Qubo

Fiat has confirmed that their versatile mini-MPV, the Qubo, will be fitted with eco:Drive fuel saving technology. The eco:Drive system allows you to download data from the car, via a USB memory stick, which you can then load on to your computer to analyse.

eco:Drive system

This innovative eco:Drive system is already fitted to the Fiat 500, Fiat 500C, Fiat Grande Punto and Fiat Bravo model range and is an essential piece of kit for reducing your impact on the enviroment. Once you have analysed the data, which looks at your own driving style, you can then change your driving habits to reduce CO2 emissions and improve your fuel consumption.

The Qubo is available in two engines, the 119g/km CO2 1.3-litre MultiJet turbodiesel and a 1.4-litre petrol engine. Two trim levels are available, Active and Dynamic, both of which incorporate a very generous amount of vehicle standard equipment.

Honda CR-Zsports

The new CEO of Honda, Takanobu Ito, has announced plans to proceed with the launch of the CR-Z sports hybrid model in Japan, in February 2010. The UK start date is yet to be announced but is likely to be announced at the end of 2009.

The new model will enhance the line up of the current hybrid models, the Insight and Civic Hybrid and will be powered by Honda’s compact, lightweight Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system. The Insight is proving very popular already in Japan and as such Honda has opened up another factory production line to cope with the demand.

The CR-Z concept car made its world debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007 and this launch continues with Honda’s ambitions to provide fuel efficient and low CO2 emission cars.

New Kia cee

Kia Motors has released the first images of the new cee’d which has been freshened up and given a much improved look. Metal sheet changes have been made to the bonnet plus additional alterations to the bumper, grille and light clusters to give the cee’d the new ”family face” of the brand.

Inside there have been enhancements too, with a more intuitive centre console and an upgraded audio system including Bluetooth. Paul Philpott, Managing Director Kia Motors (UK) Limited said;”Since its launch just over a year and a half ago, cee’d has been instrumental in placing Kia firmly as one of the top five global automakers. With over 5,000 units sold in the UK so far this year, cee’d is currently holding a four per cent share of the retail market”.

The new cee’d will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September alongside two new models. Kia has already launched the Kia Soul which is also proving very popular and car leasing prices on the Kia range can be compared now.

Ford Ka

Ford has announced that the iconic Ford Ka has achieved half a million sales since being launched in the UK in 1996. The attraction of this super-mini car has always been a unique design coupled with low running costs.

The new Ford Ka went on sale in January of this year and already more 11,000 models have been sold. The best selling model is the Zetec and the favourite colour is black followed by Dive (blue). Ninety per cent of the sales have been made to private customers with the diesel engine taking around four per cent of the orders.

Mark Simpson, Marketing Director, Ford of Britain, said;”There were eight competitors on the Ka’s market segment in 1996 – now there are 26 rivals. Offering low ownership costs and cheeky distinctive styling, the Ka has maintained its strong appeal over the years and remains at the top of its segment”. Ford personal car leasing prices are available now.

Peugeot RCZ

The Peugeot 308 RCZ concept car was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007 and is going on sale in Spring 2010. This compact 2+2 Coupe was extremely popular when put on show and this convinced Peugeot to put the car into production. Engineers have kept to the original concept styling and this will be the first Peugeot not to use the usual zero or double zero numbering system.

Peugeot RCZ

The engineers have also been hard at work ensuring the car drives as well as it looks and the finished product will be displayed at the 63rd Frankfurt Motor Show in September, taking only two years to turn a dream into reality. Peugeot has a wide range of stylish cars and vans and car leasing prices can be obtained on all other models in their range, off the site.