New MINI 5-door Hatch revealed – but will you fit through the back doors?

The 5-door MINI hatch arrives We’ve already had the more BMW-like new MINI arrive, and now, for the first time, we get a MINI 5-door hatch to try and extend the appeal of the MINI range to families. The 5-door MINI gets an extra 72mm in the wheelbase and a pair of doors at the back – which do look very tight for full-size people to use – and there’s also an extra 15mm of headroom, a bigger boot and seating for three in the back. In terms of design, there’s little to choose between the 5-door and the 3-door, but the new 5-door does look a bit like the off-spring of the new MINI and the Countryman; just a little dumpy.

OFFICIAL: Spyker B6 Venator Spyder debut at Salon Prive – but you knew that

The Spyker B6 Venator Spyder (pictured) will get a UK debut at Salon Prive It’s amazing how much noise Victor Muller can make for his Spyker projects, even though we’ve seen nothing of real substance from Spyker since the Aileron. But we have seen the B6 Venator – even if it is entirely someone else’s car under the skin – and as we revealed back in July, the open-topped version of the Venator – the Spyker B6 Venator Spyder – got its first reveal at Pebble Beach earlier this month. The Venator Spyder is now heading for a proper public debt at Geneva, but as we exclusively reported back in June (well, we reported the whisper on the grapevine) Victor Muller is heading for a lobster and Champagne weekend at Salon Prive first to show the Venator Spyder.

UK new car sales hit a ten-year high

UK new car sales continue to scale new heights, with more new cars sold in March 2014 than in any month in the past decade. Sales figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal that 464,824 new cars were registered last month – a 17.7% rise over March 2014. It continues the trend of rocketing sales, with year-to-date registrations up 13.7%.