Lexus pitch big BIK savings on new RX 450h

The new Lexus RX 450h hybrid offers big BIK savings for company car drivers, something Lexus are keen to point out. Every car needs a USP to get its message across to potential buyers; a hook to land a sale. Depending on your wants, that USP could be anything from performance and style to running costs and boot space.

New Bugatti 'could be too fast to test'

THE UPCOMING replacement for the world's fastest luxury car could be too quick to test, according to a motoring magazine. Bugatti is looking to replace the famous Veyron with a new, faster model that could reach speeds of around 286mph, but questions have been raised by weekly title Autocar over whether the facilities will exist to test it to its maximum. Not only is space a concern for the 1,500-horsepower concept, because it will need much longer straights than the Veyron, but also tyres are an issue.

Smart Forspeed concept signals new design direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand. Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014. "The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts.