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Alfa Romeo & Mazda to build new roadster

Mazda & Alfa to jointly develop a new roadster Alfa Romeo and Fiat have signed an agreement to build a new new RWD roadster based on the next generation Mazda MX-5 platform. Sergio Marchionne is a big believer that the only way to survive as a mainstream car maker is to be as big as possible and share development costs whenever you can. Which explains – from the Fiat point of view – why Alfa Romeo has entered in to an agreement to produce a new roadster with Mazda to be based on the next generation Mazda MX-5 RWD platform.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer gets (slightly inappropriate) M Sport Package

The BMW 2 Series active Tourer moves to the butch side with an M Sport Package Purists moan, but the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer MPV is a sensible move by BMW and aimed at BMW lovers who need a BMW equivalent to the Mercedes B Class; a premium family car for shifting kids and stuff around. Using the same platform as the all new MINI, the 2 Series Active Tourer is BMW’s first front wheel drive car, although a 225i Active Tourer will go on sale in November complete with BMW’s 4WD xDrive. But the 2 Series Active Tourer wouldn’t be a BMW offering unless it also came with the option of an M Sport Pack, which is exactly what will be on offer – however unsuited the Active Tourer may seem for such sporty embellishments – when the xDrive Active Tourer arrives in November (although the M Sport Pack will be offered across the whole Active Tourer range).

Lewis Hamilton takes pole at British Grand Prix – Mercedes front row

Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg (pictured) celebrate their front row at the British Grand Prix Mercedes may have turned in some stunning qualifying laps this year (although their race performance hasn’t really matched up) but Hamilton’s pole at the 2013 British Grand Prix was a stunner – almost half a second (0.452s) ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg. The pole for Hamilton – his first since the Chinese Grand Prix – was a corker (as was Rosberg’s, to be fair) and left the Red Bulls relegated to the second row with Vettel in third and the newly ‘retired’ Mark Webber in fourth. But whether the stunning lap by Hamilton presages an impossible task for Red Bull tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see.