Mazda MX 5 success in UK is mostly due to its driving characteristics. It’s simple and nimble, offers great driving fun, and best of all it’s affordable for most people. These are the traditional qualities of British sportscar of old time. That’s why people love this car. It is a British sportscar, only it comes form Japan!

Now buckle up for some history lesson:

When Mazda unveiled the MX-5 at the 1989 Chicago Motor Show, it single-handedly resuscitated the small and affordable roadster market.  Arriving when a huge motoring audience was crying out for the return of fun, and affordable roof-down driving, the perfectly proportioned roadster was brilliantly conceived and engineered to deliver undiluted driving pleasure.  It was an instant hit, its record-breaking sales success underline the Mazda MX-5’s global appeal.

Today, its core design has remained untouched for three generations, the chassis retains its classic front engine, rear wheel-drive layout and its 50/50 weight distribution ensures that drivers feel at-one-with-the-car when driving at any speed.

The car was an instant sales success here in the UK – arriving in mid March 1990, it racked up 2,246 sales by the end of its first year.  It combined affordability, outstanding reliability, and residual value performance with an unprecedented degree of driver engagement, ensuring that the love affair with the MX-5 was destined to be an enduring relationship.  It was as much a joy to drive as it was to own, creating a vast and loyal band of owners who relished its ability to turn every journey into a special event.

While the MX-5 enjoyed success in the UK it was also well received across the globe.  It entered in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000 as the best-selling two-seater sportscar in history and racked up over 178 awards with more than 880,000 sales across two decades.  Fifty eight of those awards were won by the current third generation Mazda MX-5 including Japan Car of the Year 2005-2006 and Top Gear Magazine’s Roadster of the Year 2006.

In the UK, MX-5 earned the title of ‘Best Sports Car’ in its class in the 2010 JD Power vehicle ownership satisfaction survey and has won the ‘Best Roadster’ title for the fifth time-in-a-row at the 2010 Auto Express New Car Awards.

For over 20 years the Mazda MX-5 has embraced the true British sportscar heritage following on from the classic roadsters produced by domestic brands from the 50’s and 60’s.  With 37 special editions alongside the impressive range, the Mazda MX-5 enjoys consistent sales success in the UK with almost 40 percent of European sales coming from British motorists.  Annual UK sales hit an all time high in 2007 with 9,234 sold, going on to culminate in the 100,000^th sale to Dr Helen Jones recently.

“The legendary Mazda MX-5 is the car most people associate with Mazda,” said Mark Cameron, sales director, Mazda UK.  “It is a car that people not only aspire to, but can afford to run and enjoy driving on a daily basis.  This iconic sportscar’s handling has been voted as the best by motoring magazines.  It is a fun car that makes each journey an enjoyable experience – a car that encompasses Mazda’s soul.

“To hit 100,000 sales in the UK is a significant milestone for Mazda. We are the biggest market for this car due to our love of open-top two seat sportscars.  The Mazda MX-5 finds its roots in the British heritage of soft top sportscars and has been loved by British motorists since the day it arrived on these shores.” concludes Cameron.

“GM has made a long-term commitment to bringing our industry-leading technology to China,” said Kevin Wale, President and Managing Director of the GM China Group. “This is enabling us to provide the best mobility solutions for addressing the transportation challenges associated with the growth in demand for personal mobility. With GM taking the lead, the development of electric vehicles is opening up entirely new industries.”

During today’s celebration, GM delivered two Chevrolet Volts to the Shanghai Expo Bureau for use as part of its VIP transportation fleet at World Expo 2010 Shanghai. The Volt will shuttle special guests to and from Shanghai’s Expo Park and demonstrate GM’s pathway to its vision of sustainable urban transportation.

According to Wale, “The Volt is a vehicle that makes no compromises. It reduces our dependency on petroleum and cuts emissions, offers a total driving range of about 500 kilometers, and is powered by electricity at all times. It provides users the latest technology, outstanding innovation and something no other electric vehicle can offer – peace of mind.”

The Volt is the only electric vehicle that can operate under a range of climates and driving conditions with little concern of being stranded by a depleted battery. For up to the first 60 kilometers, the Volt drives gas- and tailpipe-emissions-free using electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. When the Volt’s battery runs low, a gasoline-powered range-extending engine/generator seamlessly operates to extend the driving range another 450 kilometers on a full tank. This eliminates so-called “range anxiety.”

The Volt will be available in China with the OnStar in-vehicle safety, security and communication service. Chevrolet and OnStar developed the automotive industry’s first working smartphone application system that will allow Volt owners to set the charge time, start their vehicle, track mileage, unlock doors and much more from a smartphone or home computer on a 24/7 basis. The Chevrolet Volt OnStar smartphone application is designed to enhance the overall Volt ownership experience with interaction and control never offered before on any electric vehicle.

Then there’s the engine, where JE Desing has tweaked the Touareg’s 4.2-liter TDI-engine with optimised engine management, so the power has gone up from 340 hp (250 kW) to 410 hp (302 kW). The torque is also increased 800 to 930 Newton metres. Therefore the acceleration of this more than two ton vehicle from 0-100 kph only takes 5.4 instead of 5.8 seconds and the top speed now no longer ends at 242 but at 269 kph instead. The engine kit is priced at 2999 Euro.

Another 1428 Euro will buy you the pneumatic electronic suspension lowering module that lowers the car by 35 mm. This feature make the 22-inch aluminium wheels to look even better inside the fenders. The wheels are available in four different finishes: shadow silver with a polished front surface, matte black with a matte silver front surface, graphite shiny silver with polished rim and matte graphite silver with polished rim. The wheel package which can also be ordered with custom paint costs 5190 Euro; single wheels are available for 690 Euro each.

If you want to order the completer upgrade package for 2011 Touareg  including assembly, paint and TÜV- registration then set aside 19,750 Euro.

Dodge says the new Durango features spacious interior, and intelligent, fuel-efficient and powerful powertrain options, as well as stiffened unibody structure that offers premium driving performance combined with SUV capability and crossover versatility.

As for the engines, the standard powertrain is a fuel-efficient 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine while there’s also a powerful 5.7-liter HEMI engine with fuel-saving, Multi-displacement system (MDS) four-cylinder mode as option. Both engines feature variable-valve timing (VVT) and are available with all-wheel drive. In addition to great efficiency, the engines provide exceptional V-6 and V-8 towing capability with standard trailer sway control (V-8 – 7,400 lbs. and Best-in-class V-6 – 6,200 lbs.). When equipped with the HEMI® V-8, the all-new Durango can tow more weight than a 24-foot boat and trailer.

Chrysler cars have always had very cheap and rubbish interiors, but with the new Jeep Cherokee they showed they finally got the hang of it and learned how to make proper cabins with high quality materials and trims that won’t fall off! For the Durango the interior is so good that Dodge says it will make owners and their crews want to jump in, hunker down and thoroughly enjoy even the longest drive!

Durango’s interior is also extremely comfortable for all three rows of passengers, and there’s a surprising amount of interior flexibility. With 22 different seating configurations, there’s plenty of room to store and move plenty of people and their gear.

The all-new 2011 Dodge Durango also offers consumers 45 safety and security features, including standard front seat-mounted side air bags and standard side-curtain air bags that cover passengers in all three rows, as well as all-new standard active head restraints. Electronic Stability Control also is standard. Other available safety and security technologies include Blind-spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Path detection, Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control and Keyless Enter-n’ Go.

2011 Dodge Durango arrives in showrooms in the fourth quarter of 2010, detailed specs and pricing to be announced later.

Onyx body kit for the BMW M3 includes front and rear bumper, sideskirts, front carbon fibre lip, rear carbon fibre difusser, carbon fibre bonnet, carbon fibre boot lid and carbon fibre roof tip spoiler. And it’s not just for the show, every bit of it had to be there because of what they’ve done with the car’s engine.

The standard 420 hp 4.0 liter V8 engine of this M3 has been tuned by Onyx to develop 630 hp! That’s a huge increment which drastically affects the car’s performance.

As for the interior, Onyx provides a bespoke bufallo hide leather package and carbon fiber trimming in black, orange or blue.