The Infiniti FX concept designed and built for double Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel is to enter production, Infiniti has confirmed. The star of Infiniti’s stand at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, the FX Sebastian Vettel version featured design, engineering and aerodynamics upgrades inspired by the Red Bull Racing champion and Infiniti Global Brand Ambassador.

Infiniti Executive Vice President Andy Palmer said: “Doing the FX Sebastian Vettel version for Frankfurt was fun, but it’s also a kind of pilot. It’s about our equivalent of (Mercedes-Benz) AMG or (BMW) M Cars. We wanted to test the organisation and see if it could cope with this type of special version. Sebastian’s FX demonstrates we are able to do low volume specials and the FX Sebastian Vettel version is one of the first that will go to market.”

The Frankfurt concept car was born out of a conversation between Sebastian Vettel, already an Infiniti FX driver, and Infiniti Chief Creative Officer Shiro Nakamura at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The 5.0-litre V8 was tuned to provide 420PS, and with a high downforce aerodynamics package developed by Infiniti in collaboration with Red Bull Racing, the 300km/h crossover was billed as the most focused and exclusive sports crossover ever built. Details of the production version including availability, volumes and prices are yet to be confirmed.

New British car company Eterniti Motors is today releasing full images of the prototype of its first model, which will be shown at next week’s Frankfurt International Motor Show (IAA).

The Hemera, the world’s first Super-SUV, will bring new levels of luxury and performance to the SUV segment when production starts in 2012. Hand-built in London, it will feature a limousine-like rear cabin, including twin electric reclining seats, iPads and a drinks chiller, giving customers the option of being chauffeured as well as driving.

However, its relatively compact dimensions, 4x4 ruggedness and dynamic performance mean that it is more practical than a limousine and offers considerable driver appeal, with over 620bhp on tap and a top speed in excess of 180mph.

The Eterniti stand at the IAA will be in Hall 6.1. There will be a press call at 14.15 on 13 September, when media can find out more, see the Hemera and meet engineering boss and multiple Le Mans winner Alastair Macqueen, together with brand ambassador and Formula Grand Prix winning driver Johnny Herbert.

Buying a secondhand car can be stressful. Will you bag a bargain - a well-loved used BMW or used Mercedes with practically nothing on the clock perhaps? - Or will you end up paying over the odds for an old banger? Whether you’re buying something smart and nearly-new or a bargain-basement runaround, make sure you get a good deal.

Do your homework

Before you even set foot on a forecourt, know the market value of the car you’re looking at. Consumer price guides are available online or at a local newsagent. Look at the prices for similar cars advertised in your area – is the price of the car you’re looking at in line with the general trend? Make sure you’re clued up on the different versions of this car: the most popular models, the desirable engine choices, equipment, must-have features and so on. These could all be good bargaining points. Would you want a luxury saloon without leather upholstery, a budget city car with a thirsty engine or a family car without a decent entertainment system – unless it was suitably cheap?

On Cummins' stand at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed (from 1^st July) visitors can see a recreation of the famous Napier Railton racing car, one of the few inter-war period racing cars sill running.

The Napier Railton Special is powered by Napier Lion XI gasoline aero engine used in the First World War. The engine has 12 cylinders in three banks of four arranged in a ‘W’ or broad arrow configuration. With a total capacity of 24 litres it has a rated power of 530bhp at 2,350rpm. Using double overhead camshafts it has four valves and two spark plugs per cylinder.

The car was designed by Reid Railton and built by Thomson and Taylor on the Brooklands site. It was first raced in August 1933 by John Cobb and is now based in the Brooklands Museum. It broke the Brooklands outer circuit lap record of 143.44mph in 1935 and set the 24 hour record of 150.6mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1936.

Their prestigious history doesn't preclude higher insurance, so make sure you shop around a few car insurance quotes before committing.

Nevertheless, with roughly one car for every two people, it's probably fair to say that the UK is still in love with its cars. So, if you are considering buying a vehicle - whether new or second-hand - what do you need to know about recent developments in the car tax system?

VED - an overview

Applying to cars registered from March 2001 onwards, there are 13 VED (Vehicle Excise Duty), or tax bands, based on CO2 emissions. Band A is for cars which produce up to 100g of CO2 per km travelled - typically, hybrids, and some petrol and diesel cars with smaller engines. These pay no car tax at all - a clear message that lower-polluting cars are finding favour with those in power.

For each subsequent band, the rate of VED increases, with even a relatively modest 1.6-litre petrol version of the popular Ford Focus slipping into band G (with emissions between 151-165g/km), and attracting a £165 rate.

In fact, above 120g/km (band C), all the rates have increased in cost for 2011-12, compared to the previous year. Below this level - in keeping with the Government's drive towards providing an incentive for buyers to go for less-polluting models - there has been no price inflation for 2011.

At the upper end of the scale, this now sees owners of cars which produce more than 255g/km - typically, the largest executive saloons, sports cars, and bigger 4x4s - hit with a VED bill of £460.

If you’re considering a road trip holiday in some far-flung destination this summer, it would be prudent to make sure you know how much you’re going to be shelling out for your hire car. Varying vastly from country to country, the cost of your car might well either make or break your holiday budget.

Back in September last year, the Telegraph featured an article covering both the cheapest and most expensive countries for car hire (based on airport prices), centred around a survey by a well-known travel price comparison website.
If you’re considering a trip across the water to sunny Ireland, then you’ll be surprised to learn that you’ll pick up the cheapest hire car of all 131 locations featured in the survey – a bit of a change from their notoriously expensive €6 pints of the black stuff and high cost of living. Ireland’s a beautiful (and rather convenient) place to motor around on a 10-day jaunt, so this revelation comes as a very nice surprise indeed.

Today Land Rover will push the boundaries of its traditional customer communication with the latest offering from its Range Rover Evoque Pulse of the City project; an interactive Hollywood inspired film about choices.

Filmed in Los Angeles and unprecedented in scope and creativity, 'Being Henry' is a fun, interactive and engaging film that brings to life the unparalleled variety of options available with the Range Rover Evoque.  Just like the car has been developed to stand out from the crowd, the film presents the consumer with a number of unexpected and exhilarating adventures to engage with, inviting them into the urban world of the Pulse of the City.

Based on the original 'choose your own adventure' style of storytelling but bringing this concept into the digital age, the film takes the consumer on a wild journey through a city in which they play the role of god and consequently decide the outcome of the story's main character.  With nine different storylines and 32 unique endings the variety of choices and diverse consequences that occur ultimately result in the creation of the consumers 'subconscious' perfect Range Rover Evoque.

Porsche launches a new variant of the celebrated and successful racing pedigree 911 GT3 RS this July, offering even more power and greater performance.  Limited to 600 vehicles worldwide, the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 takes all the attributes that have made the Porsche 911 GT3 a serial winner on the race track and moves the GT3 road car programme to a new, higher level.

The new model transmits thoroughbred motorsport technology through to its innermost core. The flat engine's crankshaft has been lifted unchanged from the 911 GT3 RSR racing car’s six cylinder engine and the forged pistons’ connecting rods are made of titanium.

The flat six 4.0-litre sports engine, the biggest 911 engine ever, is also the most powerful naturally aspirated engine with 125 hp/litre. It achieves its maximum power of 500 hp at 8,250 revs per minute and delivers its maximum torque of 460 Nm at 5,750 rpm.

This impressive performance continues on track, this limited edition model achieves a Nürburgring-Nordschleife lap time of 7:27 minutes. The 911 GT3 4.0, available exclusively with a six-speed manual sports transmission, sprints to 62 mph from a standing start in 3.9 seconds and, with its gearing designed for the racing circuit, takes it to the 124 mph (200 km/h) mark in under 12 seconds.

Now that we’re into April, we can safely say that 2011 is shaping up to be the year of the green car. Hybrid systems and cars powered fully by lithium ion batteries are making their way onto the UK’s roads sooner rather than later and shaping the future of motoring as they go. But for a look at what else is on the horizon for the industry, we can turn to a number of pioneering, hi-tech designs and concepts from recent years that could blaze a trail into the future of driving.

Opel Insignia

It might seem quite a while since the Opel Insignia picked up the 2009 European Car of the Year award but, two years on, it remains a benchmark for motoring technology. The Insignia was the first production car to offer traffic sign recognition to drivers, thanks to the use of a dual-function frontal camera. Car insurance for the Insignia is not cheap in the UK, but if you can find a good deal then a fine driving experience awaits you.

The new BMW 1 Series M Coupé, the BMW M3 GTS and  the MINI John Cooper Works S2000 rally car line up at the Festival of Speed media launch

BMW will run two exciting vehicles up the hill at the 2011 Goodwood Motorsport Press Day on 17 March 2011.  The first, the new BMW 1 Series M Coupé, heralds the introduction of a high performance sports car into a compact design that extends the BMW M portfolio and paves the way for a wider audience to appreciate M car ownership. The second, the BMW M3 GTS, is the most powerful version of the high-performance M3 Coupé and features a 450hp engine that offers the ideal preconditions for use at club sport events, while still being road-legal.

Goodwood will also provide the stage for MINI to display the MINI John Cooper Works S2000 rally car – the latest milestone on the road to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) . This is the forerunner to the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, which the MINI WRC Team will unveil at MINI Plant Oxford on 11 April 2011 and will debut in Rally Italy from 5 – 8 May 2011.

What Car? is calling on the Government to radically change the drink-driving law, reducing the limit to effectively zero, after research revealed the difficulty in judging drink-drive limits.

What Car? used a driving simulator at the Transport Research Laboratory to measure four adults’ reactions when ‘driving’ under the influence of alcohol. While reaction times slowed by 8% at the current legal limit of 80mg/100ml of blood, what was most alarming was the different amounts of alcohol required to get the individuals to that level. One tester needed an alarming 12 shots of vodka to reach the legal drink-drive limit.

What Car?’s research follows official figures that show a 14% rise in positive breath tests between December 1, 2010, and January 1, 2011, alongside a 24% reduction in tests carried out over the same period. Drivers are clearly confused by the contradiction of the Government’s ‘don’t drink and drive’ message and the presence of a law that allows them to drink ‘some’ alcohol before driving.

Drivers could be forking out nearly £3 million* every day – or £1 billion a year – to repair cars damaged by Britain’s crumbling roads, according to Potholes.co.uk.

The road maintenance campaign website, set up by the UK’s leading direct car warranty provider, Warranty Direct, is warning that Britain will have “Third World” roads unless something significant is done.

Potholes.co.uk analysed 150,000 of Warranty Direct’s policies over a three-year period and found that nearly six percent of vehicles suffer axle or suspension damage linked to potholes or road defects each year. The average cost of repair stood at £312 but individual bills were as high as £4,000.

Besides the risk of major mechanical failures, motorists could also end up paying out an average of £277* to replace damaged wheels and burst tyres.

Britain’s motorway services are among the most expensive places to shop in the UK, according to research by What Car?.

What Car? discovered a WH Smith motorway services outlet that was charging consumers a 91% motorway mark-up over its high street outlets on a 750 ml bottle of water – more than Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge.

M&S also charges inflated prices in its motorway shops, including a 25% increase on a bottle of water, 16% on a sandwich and 15% on a large sausage roll. Even fast food outlet Burger King charges 12% more on the motorway than it does in its high street restaurants.

Fuel is more expensive, too, with motorists having to pay an average motorway levy of 5.2% for unleaded fuel and 3.4% for diesel. Consumers filling their fuel tank at motorway services will pay on average £77.00 more per year than they would if they filled up off the motorway.

The world’s most popular roadster, the Mazda MX-5, sets a new record this week when total production of Mazda Motor Corporation’s iconic sportscar passes 900,000 units on 4 February, 2011.  This significant milestone has been achieved 21 years and 10 months after mass production of the first-generation MX-5 commenced in April 1989.

In Britain, the Mazda MX-5 has enjoyed 20 years of incredible popularity, owing to UK consumers accounting for over 10 percent of global sales and 40 percent of European sales, while receiving a host of ‘best sportscar’ awards from motoring and consumer media.

“For British motorists, the Mazda MX-5 is the ultimate expression of our Zoom-Zoom philosophy of creating cars that are fun to drive,” comments Jeremy Thomson, Managing Director, Mazda UK.  “Over 20 years, the MX-5 has maintained its position as an affordable, lightweight sportscar that is responsive and rewarding to drive, while also proving itself to be ‘recession proof’.  We sold 10 percent more MX-5s last year than we did in 2009 and owners enjoy remarkably high residual values.  The introduction of the third-generation models meant that the MX-5 became much more than a ‘sunny weekend’ car and the Roadster Coupe, featuring the electric folding roof, now accounts for the majority of sales as buyers look to use their Mazda sportscar all-year round.”

Today, the Mazda MX-5 continues to be the most popular Roadster in the UK.  The regular 10-strong range for 2011 is priced from £17,975 to £23,205 (on-the-road).  Currently, the range is boosted by two ‘special edition’ versions of the legendary sportscar called the MX-5 Miyako.  The 1.8i Miyako soft-top costs £18,769.68 (OTR) and the more powerful 2.0i Miyako roadster coupe has a £21,321.81 (OTR) price tag.

Staunch vegan David Savage snapped up the personalised plate "for a bit of fun" for a total of £1,628 during the closing stages of DVLA's first auction of 2011.

The 60-year-old, who hasn't consumed meat for 26 years and lives by the belief of totally avoiding anything originating from a living creature, said: "I suppose it sounds a little ironic, a man named Savage being a vegan, but that's how its been for me for an awful long time. Incredibly, when I first became a vegetarian my family thought it was a phase."

He added: "I wanted a private plate for my car as a bit of fun and couldn't resist it when I discovered VEG 4N was in the auction."