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Hennessey Venom GT hits 265.7mph for new world top speed record (+ video)

The Hennessey Venom GT – an American, Lotus Elise-based supercar – has clocked 265.7mph for a new world record top speed for a production car. The world top speed record for a production car has been held by the Bugatti Veyron (well, the Veyron Super Sport) at 258mph, but that’s a ‘limited’ speed for its production cars. The Veyron Super Sport actually hit 267.81mph at VW’s Ehra-Lessian track (it actually hit 269.8mph one way) but because production cars are limited to 258mph the higher speed doesn’t count.

Hyundai make it in to UK Top Ten best-selling car makers

Hyundai has become the first Korean car maker to make it in to the top ten best selling car makers in the UK, with sales of 74,000 in 2012. It’s taken a few years to shake off the ‘Cheap Car’ tag, but Hyundai are now offering a range of cars – certainly in the mainstream – that can be compared on ability, design and quality with the best of the competition. That quantum change in perception in the last few years about the desirability of a Hyundai has now translated in to Hyundai becoming one of the top ten best-selling car brands in the UK, a first for a Korean car maker and a real sign that Hyundai is now accepted as a real competitor – not a ‘Budget’ brand.

Nissan TeRRA [w/Gallery]

Nissan has added another entry to the list of things see at the upcoming Paris motor show in the shape of its TeRRA SUV concept. The TeRRA is a seeming oxymoron as an electric SUV, mixing two of Nissan's strongest market segments into a vehicle that resembles a cross between a Leaf and a Patrol. "You have the big tires, high belt-line, thick pillars and thin side windows of the SUV vocabulary,” explains Shiro Nakamura, Nissan senior vice president and chief creative officer.