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Used car sales return to pre-recession levels

As the UK’s buoyant new car sales figures continue to buck the European trend, it was only a matter of time before this had a positive knock-on effect on sales of used cars. Now, according to figures released in the latest BCA Used Car Market Report, used car sales hit 7.1 million last year, outpacing new car sales by 6.4% and, even more crucially, returning to pre-recession levels. Best used car buys for 2013 On Bing: see pictures of used cars In fact, a record £38.1 billion worth of used cars were sold in 2012, £5.8 billion more than was spent on new cars.

Alfa Romeo to dump front-drive hatches for rear-drive saloons

Alfa Romeo is set to drop the Mito and Giulietta hatchbacks around 2015, as it switches to solely rear-wheel drive models, CAR's Georg Kacher reveals today (Friday 19 July). The sensational news, which will be music to car enthusiasts' ears, is part of a radical, new plan involving closer collaboration between Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Starting in 2015, Alfa will roll out a BMW 3-series rival, followed by a 5-series rival in 2016.

Car Design Awards China 2013 winners revealed

Six months of work by students in China prefaced the announcement of the winners of this year's Car Design Awards China, held at a glittering ceremony in Shanghai just prior to the opening of the Shanghai auto show. The judges were highly complimentary about the quality of entries and the rapid progress in design terms being seen in student work in China. Judges comments "Mature development and beautiful presentation, a most professional submission," was the comment about one of the leading entries.