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We sample Honda's car technology of the future

Ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show 2013 we’ve been to Honda’s research and development facility in Tochigi to see and experience some of the Japanese firm’s new and upcoming products and technology. We’ve covered the new Honda Civic Type R in some detail separately, but among the other cars driven here is the next generation Honda Jazz (known as the Fit in Japan), no less than three different types of Honda hybrid system, including one similar to that fitted in the forthcoming NSX supercar, and an all-carbonfibre CR-Z prototype. On top of which, we’ve also experienced a self-driving car, watched a crazy automatic-parking demonstration and sampled the latest version of the all-electric Micro-Commuter, Honda’s equivalent of the Renault Twizy.

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the World

In the week Ford built its 350 millionth car, the Ford Focus has been  revealed as the best selling car in the world in 2012. It probably helps that the Ford Focus is now a proper world car, rather than just a European model, but it’s still an impressive claim - the Ford Focus sold 522,181 in the first seven months of 2012, making it the world’s top selling car. Of that half a million plus Focuss (Focii?) Ford shifted over a  quarter of them in Europe (153,400) and the Focus outsold both the Toyota Corolla and VW Golf worldwide and in the last year a massive 860,00 Focus have found homes round the world.

BMW M135i concept

The BMW M135i concept previews not only the M Performance variant of the 1-Series, but also the three-door bodystyle. The M135i features a subtly different mask to the existing five-door variants, with a different treatment around the lamps and grille. The feature line that runs off the top of the lamps is now a more aggressive, down-turned feature that indexes with the lower central intake.