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Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

Here's the former Ukrainian president's car collection

Just a couple days ago, the world media and some bewildered journalists got a glimpse of now-departed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's villa on the Dnieper river, called Mezhyhirya. The sprawling and not-particularly-tasteful residence rests on a 345-acre lot of real estate (a little over half the size of Monaco) and features a golf course, a zoo, and an artificial lake with a ship resembling something out of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme park ride. And it also boasts an impressive collection of about 70 cars and motorcycles.

BMW, Toyota to jointly develop a sports car

BMW and Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday said they will develop a sports car together and cooperate in fuel cell technology, powertrain electrification and lightweight technologies. BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer and Toyota President Akio Toyoda signed an initial agreement at BMW's Munich headquarters to expand long-term strategic collaboration between the two automakers.