Merdad vision of the Range Rover Evoque – the Evoque Mer-Nazz

The Merdad Evoque Mer-Nazz We’re already starting to see the first efforts of the pimpers, tuners, modders and customisers on the new Range Rover Evoque surfacing, and the latest is the Merdad Evoque Mer-Nazz Regular readers with good memories will remember Merdad as the man unfortunate enough to be the UK arm of the Gemballa operation when everything went wrong for Uwe Gemballa. That meant the end of Gemballa in the UK, but Merdad has bounced back with his now eponymous company to create extreme cars for those with tastes for more unsubtle forms of car customisation. Merdad’s first effort was a very Gembala-esque two-door Cayenne, but he went British with a subsequent effort when he created the McLaren MP4-12C MehRon, which we took to be an homage to Ron Dennis.

Honda – made in the UK

Honda's new TV ad focuses on its UK manufacturing Car makers have had a torrid time in the last year or so. And the natural reaction has been to cut costs where they can. That has seen a downturn in the advertising budgets available to car makers, which in the end will be self-defeating.

Porsche Panamera to debut at Shanghai

Porsche Panamera will debut in Shanghai in April It’s a sign of the growing importance of the Chinese market that Porsche has chosen to launch the car officially in China. Even the Chinese car market is suffering at the moment, but the simple fact is that with such a huge population, and a Chinese DNA that seems to predispose them to commerce now they are allowed to ‘Trade’ once again, there will probably be more potential Porsche buyers in China in the next 10 years than in the rest of the world combined. So suck-up now seems a good motto.