Alfa Romeo has commissioned a one-off art piece to mark the UK launch of its congestion charge free MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 Sprint, which is powered by an 85-horsepower turbo diesel that emits 95g/km of CO2 .
Toyota has blessed its European market HiLux pickup truck with a mid-life facelift for the 2012 model year. The cosmetic surgery starts with the exterior that gains a redesigned front end sporting a different grille dressed in chrome, new bonnet, headlamps and front bumper. The changes continue with the redesigned front and rear wings, a new crop of 15- and 17-inch steel and alloy wheels, plus new door mirrors.
Toyota today announced prices for its next generation Yaris hatchback in Europe including the UK where the supermini is available for order now with first customer deliveries to take place in September. The new Yaris is available in three- and five-door body styles with British buyers offered a choice of four grades (T2, TR, SR and T Spirit) and three engines including 1.0 and 1.33-litre petrol units and a 1.4-litre D-4D turbodiesel. On-the-road prices start from £11,700.
Audi today unveiled the facelifted versions of its A5 range which includes the Coupe, the Sportback and Cabriolet models. The company’s goal was to freshen up the A5’s exterior looks and to improve both their driving dynamics and fuel economy.
The 2012 Audi A5 range is available exclusively with direct injection engines featuring forced induction and stop-start and energy regeneration system as standard. As a result, Audi says fuel consumption has been decreased across the range by 11% on average and CO2 emissions by as much as 22%.
Citing two unnamed people that were briefed earlier this week on GM’s future product plans, the Detroit Free Press reported today that the company is mulling the addition of a diesel engine to the Chevrolet Cruze’s range. According to the insiders, a diesel version of the Cruze would return a highway fuel economy of around 50mpg rivaling the efficiency of the Toyota Prius hybrid which is rated at 51 mpg (4.6 lt/100 km) in the city and 48mpg (4.9 lt/100 km) on the highway. A diesel Cruze would also help GM meet the more demanding government gas mileage rules.
There are many ways to celebrate the sponsorship of an event like the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but when it comes to automakers, the norm is the introduction of special edition models. For BMW, the festivities over its sponsorship of the games begin with the UK launch of two new Performance Edition models based on the 1-Series hatchback and 3-Series sedan.