September sales hint at improvement

A 10 percent increase in new-vehicle sales in September is sparking optimism that the year will have a strong finish. And analysts say that deals might get better over the next few months as Toyota and Honda finally recover from shortages caused by the earthquake that hit Japan in March. Those brands might increase spending on incentives to woo buyers back into their showrooms.

Power hike for Porsche Boxster

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 19 October 2006 02:37 Porsche has upgraded its two Boxster models, by transplanting the Cayman coupe's punchier flat six engines. The base Cayman cabriolet – sorry, Boxster – now gets a smidgen more power and torque from its 2.7-litre unit, with outputs climbing to 245bhp and 201lb ft. The tweaks shave a tenth off the 0-62mph sprint, reducing it to 6.1sec, and improve fuel economy by 1mpg to 30.4.

Audi A3 Concept: 400bhp A3 saloon at Geneva

Audi A3 Concept - 0-60mph in 4.1 seconds There we were last week wondering what niche Audi could think of to fill next – as you do in an idle ten minutes – when in to our Inbox dropped news of the Audi A3 Concept. The A3 Concept is an A3 with a boot, in case you missed having a car with a boot. Or you’re an American, and then apparently you don’t know how to work a hatch.