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India turns the screw on luxury car makers

Land Rover will still be sending CKD to India despite the rise in import duty India’s economy is growing almost exponentially, as a result of which it has a big, rising middle-class with much the same aspirations as the middle-class in the West. Those aspirations include the accumulation of status symbols considered worthy of representing their success and new wealth, none more so than a good set of wheels. So it’s no surprise that the mainstream luxury car makers – Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Audi and BMW – are ready, willing and able to provide exactly what India’s middles classes are looking for.

SEAT Ibiza FR TDI announced

The three and five door versions of the SEAT Ibiza FR TDI ‘Sporty’ and Diesel’ were two words that never used to go together. But as diesel engines become more and more compelling car makers are keen to add performance diesel versions to their range. More torque and better fuel consumption are reason enough to run a diesel these days for a daily drive, but when performance figures actually make the diesel fun it’s hard to argue against.

BMW and Toyota to team up for sports car

BMW and Toyota have agreed to jointly engineer and produce a new sports car as part of a broad-reaching technical partnership that is also set to center on lightweight construction solutions, fuel-cell development and hybrid powertrains. The announcement of the deal builds on an existing agreement for the supply of BMW diesel engines for various Toyota models, agreed to in December 2011. That was advanced with the signing of a memorandum by BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer and Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda in Munich, Germany, on Friday.