Fuel protests halt Spanish car production

By Dimitri Pesin Motoring Issues 16 June 2008 10:25 Fuel protests in Europe triggered by the soaring cost of fuel have drastically reduced car production in Spain this month.  Last week's truck blockades and fuel depot pickets in Madrid caused car plants around the country to cut production. Seat, Citroen Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz all have factories in Spain and most said they were affected.Seat production slashed by 40 percentSeat said its main Martorell plant was operating at 40 percent capacity, with production of the Leon and Altea models severely affected. However, the protests won’t delay sales of the new Ibiza, a spokesman promised, and assembly of cars in the factory is expected to return to normal this week.

Ford SYNC and Spotify get cosy

Ford SYNC getting Spotify? For the technophobes amongst you the headline may sound like a bunch of geek-speak. Spotify?

New MINI to be revealed on 18th November – Sir Alec Issigonis’ birthday

The new MINI will be revealed on 18th November A couple of weeks ago, MINI revealed the MINI Vision Concept at the MINI Design Studios in Munich which previews the new Mk3 MINI, although it wasn’t a physical car, just a projected hologram. But the real new MINI isn’t far from a reveal, and MINI has announced that it will arrive on 18th November, which just happens to be the 107th birthday of the creator of the original Mini – Sir Alec Issigonis. The reveal will take place at the MINI Plant in Oxford with a party in London the same evening to celebrate, and on the 20th November the new MINI will be revealed in public at events in Los Angeles and Tokyo ahead of the Tokyo and Los Angeles Motor Shows.