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The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Driven: Land Rover DC100 concept

Nothing compares to natural daylight for assessing a car's design. Under motor show lighting the subtleties of the surface sculpting, detailing and even proportion can be lost and misconstrued. Hence our first view of the Land Rover DC100 concept out in the open is, quite literally, illuminating.

Mercedes GLK unveiled in Beijing

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 21 April 2008 17:34 Feedback on the forthcoming Mercedes GLK has been mixed to say the least. The final production version at the Beijing motor show is – as predicted – little changed and still ugly, especially in the side profile. However, in ‘on-road’ guise it does have some saving graces… It seems so.