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Mini factory celebrates its 100th birthday

A bastion of the British car-building industry, Mini’s ‘Plant Oxford’ in Cowley, Oxford celebrates 100 years of building cars today (28 March 2013). Currently responsible for producing the second-gen BMW Mini range, Plant Oxford has been the birthplace more than just trendy city cars: it’s stamped out over 11.5 million cars since 1913, including legend like the Morris Minor and Frogeye Sprite, and clunkers like the Morris Marina. It also contributed to the war effort by repairing damaged RAF fighter aircraft during the Second World War.

Win a copy of Just My Type book

In the new September 2011 issue of CAR Magazine, we've set typography expert and author Simon Garfield a task to critique modern car badges. The typeface used on the rump of your car - and the script on the dials, brochures and adverts - speaks volumes about your choice of wheels. So we asked Garfield, author of Just My Type: A Book About Fonts, to lend an expert eye.

Scrappage helps UK car sales in October

Scrappage Scheme sales accounted for 20% of sales in October Despite our reservations about the Scrappage Scheme, it does seem that it has inspired buyers in to showrooms in the last few months. And October has recorded a year on year increase of 31.6%, although total car sales are still down over 12% on 2008 figures. October saw a big rise in new cars sales to private buyers with sales rocketing by 86%, and there were rises in the fleet and business market.