Diesel hybrid cars avoid BIK penalty. Peugeot, Citroen & Volvo rejoice.

Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 is the first car to benefit from BIK rates on diesel hybrids As a company car driver the Inland Revenue gets its cut no matter what. With BIK rates set based on CO2 emissions and list price, it’s hard to find a way to beat the system. Even opting for a diesel car doesn’t help because, despite much better economy on the whole from diesels than petrol engined cars, HMRC adds an extra 3% to your BIK rate because diesels emit more of the stuff that matters – particulates and NOx – than a petrol-engined car.

Bristol Cars sold to China. Possibly.

Bristol Cars - is it a Chinese Takeaway Earlier this month we reported the sad demise of the quirky and eccentric supercar maker that is Bristol cars, forced in to administration through a shortage of equally eccentric millionaires to buy their creations from another time. The good news is that they still look like a viable entity if they’re properly marketed, so we didn’t expect it to be too long before a buyer popped up and grabbed the Bristol Cars name, its Kensington showrooms and the handful of staff left. So we weren’t surprised to get an email this morning from China telling us the press there are reporting that the Xinjiang No1 Tractor Company – a State-owned maker of tractors (you’d never have guessed) – had snapped up Bristol Cars from the administrators.

Entries open for Opel/Vauxhall Interactive Design Competition

Entries can now be submitted to the interactive design competition from  Opel/Vauxhall, in partnership with CDN, which asks students: "What do you think is our lounge style?"  Students are invited to upload their entries to the competition website www.cardesigncontest.com, where they can be viewed and commented upon by the design community as well as other students. CDN and Opel/Vauxhall is encouraging entrants to start uploading material from day one to increase their changes of getting useful feedback on their entries. The competition judges, as well as the design community and other students, will be looking at your research imagery and mood boards, sketches, renderings and video – whatever you feel best represents your vision.