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Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME heading for Geneva as the quickest Astra yet

The Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME (pictured) is heading for a Geneva debut. The VXR range of Vauxhall’s – the sportiest of Vauxhall’s car range – is ten years old this year, so what better way to celebrate than with an even more extreme version of the Astra VXR. Vauxhall obviously agree as they’ve revealed the Vauxhall Astra VXR EXTREME as the new top of the range Astra VXR and it’s heading for a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March before going in to limited production.

Volkswagen Passat drops United States model when new sedan debuts

Volkswagen probably will drop the Passat sedan and wagon in 2011 when VW's new U.S.-built mid-sized four-door is expected to go on sale. "We are looking at it in detail," Stefan Jacoby, VW Group of America CEO, said this month at a press event here. The U.S.-built sedan, which has yet to be named, will be larger than the Passat but priced lower.