Van Mail

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has launched a new electronic newsletter called Van Mail. This new quarterly newsletter is designed to give potential owners and van operators an insight into all the latest news, offers and also competitions from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The first edition has been launched this week and features the chance to win a VIP tour of the Red Bull Racing factory, who use Volkswagen vans to keep their racing cars on the track by delivering their spare parts.  David George, Head of Marketing, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said,” Van Mail is intended to be informative, valuable and rewarding. We offer award-winning customer service, but want to be able to make our customers feel valued and well informed”.

Fiat 500 city car

Fiat has tied up a deal with Connect, one of the UK’s leading car-share companies that is owned by Hertz. The car-by-the-hour business has agreed a deal to supply the Fiat 500 city car and the sporty Alfa MiTo to customers who want the occasional use of car. The cars in the Connect scheme will be initially rolled out in London with a wider use later this year.

Alfa MiTo

Connect has agreed to take 170 cars to start with and the sub-120g/km CO2 figures for these models will not only offer great fuel efficiency but they are easy and fun to drive as well. All you need to do is swipe your Connect swipe card and you can gain access to the cars for as little as an hour at a time. If you fancy leasing either models however, Fiat car leasing prices are on the site now.

New Lexus CT 200h

The new Lexus CT 200h hybrid small luxury car has four driving styles moods that will match your driving mood. The Lexus CT200h car will be officially unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, from Thursday the 30th September in Hall 4 and this is the first debut car for Toyota in this sector.

Instrument panel in hybrid blue

The new car is powered by a 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine, an electric motor and an electrically controlled continuously variable transmission (E-CVT) and offers four selectable driving modes for a Dynamic or Relaxed driving character.

SPORT mode allows full exploitation of the CT 200h’s agile sports handling or there is ECO mode which delivers maximum efficiency. EV (electric mode) offers zero tailpipe emissions and NORMAL places the emphasis on a relaxed drive.  The look of the instrument panel also changes when you select a more dynamic performance changing from hybrid blue to red, plus the hybrid power meter changes to a tachometer.

All-new Ford Focus

The new generation Ford Focus has been undergoing testing in the scorching sun of Southern Spain, at Antequera, where temperatures regularly rise above 40 degrees Celsius. The car’s EATC (Electronic Automatic Temperature Control) system has been put through its paces and has coped comfortably in reducing the temperature, when it gets really hot and also in warming the occupants up just as rapidly, when the temperature falls.

The engineering team are road-testing two camouflaged vehicles, a four door version from the North American market and a five door from the European market. There are over 200 sensors around the car and everything is monitored, including ambient temperature, AC pressures, engine speed and sunlight. The main challenge is that North American drivers have different preferences as they like the cabin to really be cool, whereas European drivers  like the cabin to be chilled but not cool.

Klaus Schuermanns, Ford systems engineer, said,”We get a lot of people trying to take pictures as we drive along and people are always asking us about the car. But the most important thing for us is that this AC system in the all-new Focus is great. That makes our job much easier, not to mention more comfortable”.

Toyota Verso-S

The new B-segment MPV, the Toyota Verso-S, gets its world premiere at the forthcoming 2010 Paris Motor Show and will be launched in the UK in early 2011. This new Toyota is small, spacious and smart and is a lesson in space management as it is less than 4-metres in length, but offers maximum space through its flexible design. Further details of the new Toyota Verso-S will revealed on the press day, which is on the 30th September.

Toyota will also be making its Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) a focal point of its stand, to celebrate 10 years of hybrid history and the recent launch of the Auris HSD. The feature of the stand will be the Hybrid Synergy Drive Gallery which is an interactive exhibition charting the company’s drive to sustainable mobility through its development of HSD use in Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHV), Electric Vehicles (EV) and of course fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles (FCHV). They will also unveil the FT-CH Concept which is their proposal for a full hybrid in the small compact car segment.

In addition Toyota will also launch a new interior finish for the iQ and a new colour scheme (and easy to use multimedia system) for the Aygo. You can find Toyota in Hall 4 of the show from 8.45 a.m. on Thursday the 30th September.

The Road Haulage Association has welcomed the Campaign for Better Transport report, which once again highlights the issue of road tolls and whether they are a guaranteed revenue earner. RHA Head of Communications, Kate Gibbs, said,” In 2009, road users contributed nearly £50 billion to Treasury coffers. £32 billion of that came from fuel duty and VAT on fuel”.

The RHA feels that implementing tolling on strategic routes would be welcomed however as reductions in congestion should follow. They also feel that foreign operators would also have to pay for the privilege of using the UK road network, which would create a more level playing field in terms of transport costs. However the RHA is also calling for reduction in fuel duty for essential users of fuel, as tolling would only be a short term solution to a long-term problem.

Ms Gibbs went onto say, “If hauliers are expected to pay the ever escalating levels of fuel duty as well as road tolls, congestion will indeed decrease as more and more transport operations are forced off the toll roads on to other untolled, and in some cases, minor roads. The knock-on effect of increased journey times and disruption to delivery schedules will place the providers of transport and businesses, which rely on an efficient transport system, in an untenable situation”.

RoadSafe, the organisation dedicated to reducing road deaths and injuries, has urged the transport minister, Mike Penning, to maintain the current annual check-up for the MOT. In the UK if your vehicle is three years old you must have a valid MOT and every year thereafter. In the EU however the law requires vehicles to have their test when four years old and then a subsequent test very two years. The DfT is looking at bringing the UK into line with the rest of Europe and RoadSafe is warning against this.

Every year in the UK, MOT testers identify 8.5 million cars with defects and the DfT found in its own review of the MOT in 2008, that reducing the test frequency would significantly increase the number of unroadworthy cars and casualties. Most cars should be serviced between MOT tests but many drivers fail to do this and the Tyre Industry federation has also found that 12% of tyres are illegal on replacement.

RoadSafe director, Adrian Walsh said,” Many owners just don’t realise that tyres are a vital part of the braking system. They are one of the several essential safety features that drivers seldom check. An annual MOT is vital for picking up these problems. Roadsafe joins the Tyre Industry Federation and other campaigners, with a warning to government, that extending the period between MOT tests will put lives at risk”.

New Volvo GTDI petrol engine

Volvo has announced it is introducing two new four cylinder 1.6-litre petrol engines ( T3 and T4) with Gasoline Turbocharged Direction Injection (GTDI) technology. The 1.6 GTDI T3 offers 150 PS while the T4 offers 180 PS and both engines will be available in the all-new Volvo S60 and V60 later this year.

Both engines will feature DRIVe fuel saving technology as well with the manual version offering a Start/Stop system that shuts off the engine when the car is standing still and in neutral. As soon as you press the clutch the engine restarts. The T4 engine will also be available with Volvo’s six-speed Powershift gearbox which combines the manual gearbox’s efficiency and driving dynamics with the automatic transmissions’s smoothness.

i-MiEV European spec

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is set to unveil the European specification all-electric i-MiEV, at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, which is being held at the Paris Expo-Porte de Versailles in Paris, from Thursday September the 30th to Sunday, October 17th.

The European spec i-MiEV will be rolled out across Europe from December this year, including the UK, and features a new design to the front and rear bumpers to meet EU regulations. In addition the car has a rearranged centre stack in the instrument panel and improved interior comfort.

Mitsubishi will be showing a range of 12 vehicles at the show, including the new ASX compact crossover, Lancer Sportback and the new Outlander 2.2 DiD mid-size crossover and you can find them in Hall 3.

Mazda RX-8 R3

There are less than 100 examples of the Mazda RX-8 R3 coupe left in stock in the UK as Mazda phases out this four-seater, four-door sports coupe.

The rotary-engined 231ps Mazda RX-8 offers great performance and is still a head turner so if you want to join the 26,000 other UK motorists who have enjoyed the thrills of this sports classic you need to act fast.