Marques

MG Motor UK is pleased to announce it is the first volume manufacturer to confirm its attendance at the new London Motor Show. MG will be displaying its latest model range at the Battersea Park show in May 2016. Matthew Cheyne, Head of Sales and Marketing for MG, said: “We’re really excited to announce our attendance at the London Motor Show. It’s great to see a motor show return to the UK and we’re thrilled to be part of it. “We see it as a fantastic opportunity to showcase our latest range and interact with the public. We really hope that more manufacturers will follow and the show will be up there with the likes of Geneva and Paris as a platform for launching new and exciting brands and models.” Those attending the motor show will see MG’s latest range […]

McLaren Automotive, the British producer of luxury sports and supercars, has announced the appointment of Duncan Forrester and Freddie Gilbey to the Global Communications team, creating its first Corporate and Lifestyle Communications function which will report into Global Communications Director, Wayne Bruce. Duncan Forrester is appointed to the role of Global Corporate Communications Manager with responsibility for elevating the reputation of McLaren as a benchmark luxury automotive technology company, employer of choice for world-class engineers and an important contributor to the success of UK PLC.  Duncan undertook work experience for the McLaren Formula 1™ team in 1987/88. He re-joins McLaren following 26 years in the automotive industry at dealership, national sales company and global manufacturer levels. Working for brands such as BMW in the UK and Volvo Car Group in the UK and Sweden, he was latterly Global Vice President, […]

The most powerful, most luxurious, most exclusive and fastest SUV in the world, the Bentley Bentayga, makes its ice-driving debut in 2016 at Bentley’s flagship customer event, Power on Ice. Power on Ice is an unforgettable four-day experience that provides the opportunity to push a full range of Bentley cars to their limits. Running throughout February next year, guests will be among the first to explore the Bentayga’s extraordinary capabilities in one of the most beautiful and challenging environments in the world. Two days of exhilarating ice driving training are provided by the vastly experienced Bentley Ice Driving Team. Leading the tuition will be four-time World Rally Champion and two-time ice-speed record holder, Juha Kankkunen – who personally designs each of the ten ice tracks. A range of Bentley models, including the brand’s performance flagship, the Continental GT3-R, will take […]

The Jaguar E-type has added yet another award to its enviable roll of honour after being voted as Best British Car Ever in a worldwide poll run by the inaugural Classic & Sportscar – The London Show, running from 30 October to 1 November at Alexandra Palace. With thousands of votes cast, the E-type garnered the most votes of the shortlisted cars that also included the McLaren F1, Mini, Bentley Speed Six, Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost plus other British icons such as the original Range Rover and Jaguar’s own XKSS.

The first production right hand drive 1967 TR5 Roadster is to be sold by leading classic car restorers Classic Motor Cars (CMC). This incredibly special car was the first TR5 P1 to be built on the normal assembly line, and is one of only 1,100 to be produced, carrying with it an indisputable history.

The all-new Jaguar XE is achieving widespread praise from its first owners following its launch earlier this year, andfrom today the Jaguar sports saloon experience is offered to the next generation of drivers with the launch of ‘Jaguar First’. This new scheme from Jaguar offers driving lesson experience days to 11-17 year-olds to help prepare them for their driving test and for driving safely and responsibly on public roads. Jaguar First lessons start from just £45 and are available to book at www.jaguarfirst.com. The lessons offer under 17s a fun and safe way to experience driving a car, in a realistic on-the-road environment, with a focus on the skills and attitude needed to become a responsible driver.

Aston Martin has once again confirmed its position as the most popular car brand in Germany. Readers of the renowned title Auto Bild Klassik voted the V12 Vantage S Roadster “Classic Car of the Future”. For the sixth year in succession, Auto Bild Klassik has presented Europe’s most important Classic Award. 98 candidates were nominated in 13 categories. The award ceremony took place in the Autostadt in Wolfsburg on October 20th. Mark Kenworthy, Regional Director European Operations of Aston Martin Lagonda of Europe, says: “We are very proud to once again receive this important award. The Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Roadster embodies the genes of Aston Martin perfectly: Superior performance in timeless design. We thank the readers of Auto Bild Klassik for their support.”

Jaguar and Land Rover have used iconic cars and moments from the rich heritages of both brands to inspire new merchandise collections, which are available to explore and order online and at Jaguar and Land Rover UK retailers from today. The exciting new collections include a variety of new and innovative products ranging from top quality apparel to stylish watches and branded accessories. Lindsay Weaver, Director of Licensing and Branded Goods for Jaguar Land Rover, said: “The new Jaguar and Land Rover collections combine exceptional design and originality with outstanding quality. In addition to a stunning range of heritage-inspired products, we have also created new core and lifestyle ranges which continue to be stylish and relevant”. The Jaguar and Land Rover 2016 merchandise collections build on an accomplished variety of premium products launched to date, that have proved increasingly popular […]

Bentley’s EXP 10 Speed 6 concept car has been awarded Gold in the Transportation category of the German Design Awards – one of the most highly respected design competitions in the world. The German Design Council selects a panel of international design experts to judge the entries. They selected the EXP 10 Speed 6 for the Gold award as a result of its timeless, iconic Bentley design, clever use of new materials and aesthetic dynamism. Panel judge, Johannes Barckmann, commented: “The designers of the EXP 10 Speed 6 achieved a fantastic reinterpretation of the British legend. This is particularly apparent when looking at the interior. The door panels are not covered with leather, but instead with high-quality wood. “The exterior inspires with a progressive, elegant design vocabulary that transports the classic car into the future. EXP 10 Speed 6 is […]

MINI USA introduced Thursday the newest addition to its iconic product line, the new MINI Convertible. As the first open top MINI powered by BMW Group engines and architecture, the new MINI Convertible is a premium four-seater soft-top convertible that is both practical and customizable for unlimited open-air motoring fun. Like all other MINI models in the product portfolio, the new MINI Convertible is made for individualization, setting the new standard in the premium convertible market. It offers a choice of 11 exterior color options, including the new Caribbean Aqua, which harkens back to the classic MINI color palette, ideal for the fun-loving enthusiast, and Melting Silver, recently introduced on the new MINI Clubman, a cool and modern finish perfect for the open air thrill seeker.

Collectors and enthusiasts turned out in force when BCA Blackbushe offered two classic British cars on Wednesday 14th October.  Both the 1957 Morris Minor and the 1960 Ford Prefect had generated a lot of pre-sale interest and there was some very competitive bidding both in the auction hall and online as the cars were offered. The Morris Minor had only been sold once before, at BCA’s former Frimley centre in 1980 when it realised £680.  Thirty-five years later it made over four times that value, selling for £2,850.   The two-owner Morris was in need of some gentle renovation to return to its former glory and came with  a number of original spares including a pair of boxed ‘as new’ Lucas semaphore indicators, Morris badges, carpets, new floor panels, chrome overriders and a complete set of spare wheels. The beautifully restored […]

Ok Let’s see… Random misfire and misfire on cylinder #11 … Looks like you need the basic ignition service. When would you like to do that? How much you ask? Oh, about $4,000. That was a nasty fall, can I help you up, get you some aspirin? Well of course I can break it down. Twelve spark plugs at $40.91 each, twelve coils at $157.56 each, a manifold gasket set at $407.36, and then around $900 labor …. How often?  Well, about every 25 or 30 thousand miles. Perhaps you should sit down again, you look faint. What I’m trying to point out here is that it’s possible to drive a spectacular car as your secondary “real car” for the kind of people that for instance left the 3 year old ‘Benz in the driveway this morning and drove the […]

Personal style preferences can now be transformed into recommendation, with Bentley’s latest innovation: the Inspirator. The application monitors the users’ facial expressions and reactions and interprets them in order to configure the perfect Bentley for them. Utilising any iOS device’s camera function, the application’s facial and emotion recognition software measures and analyses the viewer’s emotion based on nuanced facial expressions. 34 facial landmarks are identified at 15 frames per second, as the viewer reacts to stimulating film content. The accurate emotion metrics algorithms are built using the world’s largest emotion data repository – 3.4 million faces have been analysed in 75 countries amounting to more than 12 billion emotion data points. The viewer’s reactions dictate a unique film narrative; the film changes according to what the user responds to most positively, but also deciphers their preferences, creating a unique configuration […]

A rare early Range Rover convertible conversion is due to be sold at Silverstone Auctions’ last auction of the year, The NEC Classic Motor Show Sale, on 14-15 November 2015. Starting life as a 1973 Range Rover ‘Suffix B’, the car was converted in the late Eighties by Special Vehicle Conversions, who specialise in bespoke convertible conversions for Range Rovers of the period. The rare right-hand drive convertible has covered just 62,500 miles from new and having recently been restored to its original Special Vehicle Conversions specification, it will be sold at The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show auction with an estimate of £35,000 – £40,000. The car was apparently won by the previous owner in a card game in the Nineties, who then stored it in a lock-up as he didn’t have space in his garages. The vendor heard […]

Aston Martin is today showcasing a fully electric concept of its Rapide S four-door sports saloon outside Lancaster House in London – the venue for a meeting between Their Royal Highnesses Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and President of The People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The new RapidE concept has been developed in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering at its facility in Grove, Oxfordshire. It is on display today in support of a creative summit organised by the British government’s successful GREAT campaign to showcase the best of what the UK has to offer and encourage people to visit, do business, invest and study in this country. Aston Martin CEO, Dr Andy Palmer, said: “We see luxury electric vehicles as an intrinsic part of our future product portfolio and welcome ChinaEquity into the next phase […]

No matter how many cars are on display at the free-to-view Regent Street Motor Show at the end of this month (Saturday 31 October) – and there will be hundreds – one more will leave than arrived. Four technicians from Caterham Cars will be building a car from scratch throughout the day. The four-strong team will start the day surrounded by a number of boxes full of parts to build up a Caterham Seven, and just six hours later they plan to drive the finished car away. Caterham Cars was founded in 1973 to manufacture and sell the self-assembly Seven two-seat sports car, and they’ve been doing it ever since. Based on the Lotus Seven from the 1950s, the current Caterham shares the same ‘back-to-basics’ looks as the original and it still shares the ethos of the original – performance […]

Our video this week is from deep in the vaults for something a little more esoteric – a brief history of the Morris Oxford and Wolseley Fifteen-hundred. These fantastic old cars were two of the stalwarts of the British automotive industry in their day. The Morris Oxford is a series of car models produced by Morris Motors in many different forms. Although the name was used from the 1913 bullnose Oxford to the Farina Oxfords V and VI of the 70s, the cars being referred to in this video are the models produced from 1948 and up until 1959. Those interested in the Morris Oxford should check out the Cambridge Oxford Owners Club as well as the Morris Oxford site. The Wolseley 1500 was first introduced in 1957. The Wolseley 1500 was produced at Longbridge with a detuned version of […]

Bentley Berkshire today becomes the first of Bentley’s UK showrooms to implement the brand’s new corporate identity, following an extensive upgrade to the Pangbourne sales and aftersales centre. Drawing inspiration from the British luxury marque’s rich 96-year heritage, as well as the best in modern luxury retailing, the template for the new design was first showcased with the opening of CW1 House – a flagship showroom concept at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe. Bentley Berkshire has integrated the new, modern façade within the site’s existing footprint; the powerful and contemporary new look perfectly complementing the dealership’s familiar Georgian brick-built frontage. Sarah Simpson, Bentley Regional Director UK, commented: “The new-look Bentley Berkshire site has been designed to give our customers a bold, clear and contemporary vision of the Bentley brand, and is finished with the same level of luxury for which our […]