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Lexus sales up but Toyota's profits tumble

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 13 August 2008 13:25 With spiralling fuel prices, luxury off-roaders may be seen as the devil on wheels in the UK’s current cash-strapped economic climate – which would explain why last month saw a sharp drop in SUV sales at BMW, Audi and Mercedes. But not at Lexus. July 2008 sales of the company’s RX400h hybrid off-roader climbed 28 percent over the same period last year, rising from 223 to 285.

Weather creates travel misery

BRITAIN’S bleak midwinter continued today with strong winds, floods and fallen trees causing chaos to travellers trying to get away for Christmas. On the roads, many major routes were flooded or blocked by fallen trees, with Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Cornwall among the affected counties. In Dorset fire crews had to rescue 25 people trapped in their cars by flood water, while as many as 100,000 homes across the country were left without power.

One Lap of the Web: Bugatti state of mind

-- Last week, we looked at the new Bugatti exhibit at the Mullin Museum, which taught us more about Bugatti in an afternoon than the last three years of idly flipping through Pebble Beach programs. Having thus immersed ourselves in the House That Ettore Built, we'd really like to drive to work in a faithful Type 35 replica by the aptly named Pur Sang, which Mark Dixon of Octane drove for his 140-mile commute. "You need to keep the revs up while the engine clears its throat and warms its plugs," he writes.