Without laying its wheels onto the surface of our roads, the new Volkswagen up! has already claimed a number of plaudits. One of the cars marketing slogans “Small Car, Big Impact” certainly hits the mark with accolades including What Car? Car of the Year 2012 and Small Car of the Year at the Top Gear Magazine Awards, both before it’s official UK launch in March 2012.

Volkswagen has built a strong reputation for building mid-ranged cars that are perfect for everyday use, but this new model, the up!, is their smallest to date – a compact city car which is stylish, packed with technology and incredibly affordable. This departure from Volkswagen’s more traditional model territory is sure to help the company capture even more market share in the UK and around the world.

The order books have already begun to fill for the much anticipated arrival of the new Volkswagen up! ahead of its launch in March 2012. With a starting on the road price of just £7,995 the up! is equipped with many design and technology features that customers will undoubtedly love. These standard features eclipse the equivalent offerings of its many competitors in the compact city car arena. ABS, an MP3 compatible Radio/CD player, front driver and passenger airbags and day time running lights are the highlights in Volkswagens entry level Take up!. Also available are the Move up!, High up! and the special editions, up! Black and up! White, which complete a range of models with enough diversity to suit anyone looking for this type of vehicle.

Equipped with a 1.0 litre 60PS petrol engine as standard and an additional 2 petrol engines (1.0 litre 60PS BlueMotion and 1.0 litre 75PS) available in the range, the up! is both an affordable and economical choice for anyone looking to invest in this type of vehicle. With an additional 5 door version expected before the end of 2012, the up! is destined to become a major protagonist in the highly competitive compact city car market.

The new Volkswagen up! is available to order now, at both Mon Motors Volkswagen retailers.

The third generation of this acclaimed high-performance Audi has been unveiled today. The all new RS 4 Avant has all the merits of the standard A4 Avant, but with the additional power and excitement of a high revving V8 engine.

This superb model will only be available in the attractive and accommodating Avant body style, and is expected to arrive in all Mon Motors Audi centres during the Autumn of 2012. The all new RS 4 Avant is expected to deliver sub-five-second 0 to 62mph pace, a top speed of 174pmh and the unwavering precision of quattro all-wheel-drive handling.

AT the heart of the all new RS 4 Avant is the same naturally aspirated V8 that powers the current RS5 Coupe. The hand-built 4163cc unit, with its distinctive red-painted cylinder covers, produces 450 PS at 8520rpm and maximum torque of 430 Nm from 4000 to 6000rpm. It powers the RS 4 Avant from 0 to 62mph in 4.7 seconds on its way to a governed top speed of 155mph, which can be increased to 174mph if required. What’s more, it achieves all this while potentially returning up to 25.7mpg on the combined cycle.

With its impressive efficiency and long top gear, the seven-speed S tronic transmission contributes significantly to fuel economy. The driver can let the lightning-fast dual-clutch transmission shift automatically or change gears manually using the selector lever or steering wheel paddles. For explosive starts, the driver can also activate the launch control, which manages the engagement of the clutch to achieve optimum starting speed with minimal wheel spin.

The RS 4 has a powerful profile, thanks to chiselled sill extensions and flared wheel arches, which are complemented by LED daytime running lights, wedge-shaped headlights, distinctive bumpers and oval tailpipe caps. It’s available in a choice of eight colours, including two special crystal effect colours, Prism silver and Panther black.

The interior is finished completely in black, apart from the roof lining, which is also available in Moon silver. Chrome clasps and carbon inlays are standard, with brushed matt aluminium, Aluminium Race, piano black and stainless steel mesh finishes available as options. The instrument cluster bezel is finished in piano black.

The standard front sports seats are heated. Bucket-style ‘super sports seats’ are also an option. High-grade leather packages are available as options, as are a range of state-of-the-art driver assistance and communications systems, including mobile phone preparation high, which connects the car with the Internet and Google Earth satellite navigation mapping.

UK pricing and specification guides are not yet available for the all new RS 4 Avant, but please contact your nearest Mon Motors Audi centre today and register your interest in this exciting addition to the Audi model range.

The Ford Mondeo is no stranger to awards and its latest two accolades have come at the What Car? 2012 awards, where it was crowned the Best Family Car and the Best Estate Car for the second consecutive year.

The Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi 115PS Zetec was the model specifically recognised in the Best Family Car category, with the Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 140PS Zetec receiving the praise in the Best Estate Car category. This repeats the Ford Mondeo’s double award success at last years What Car? awards and also at the 2009 ceremony.

Chas Hallett, What Car? editor-in-chief,commented: “The Ford Mondeo has plenty of fresh rivals, but it’s such a strong package that it picks up two more awards this year, for best estate car and top family car. Ford has worked hard to keep the Mondeo refreshed and it has succeeded; this is still a great all-round package, either as a hatchback or an estate.”

Last year the Ford Mondeo was updated adding external refinements, heightened interior craftsmanship and new hi-tech features.

The winning Zetec model accounts for 38 per cent of sales in the UK, with the standard specification including 16in alloy wheels, advanced Bluetooth® hands-free and voice control system, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter, Quick Clear heated windscreen, leather trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, electronic stability programme with traction control and Emergency Brake Assist, electrically operated and heated door mirrors with integral indicators and Thatcham approved alarm.

Mark Ovenden, Ford Britain managing director, said: “Ford are delighted that Mondeo has once again been recognised as the best all-rounder. Appealing to family and business executives alike thanks to its elegant exterior styling and wealth of technology features, it also offers new powertrains which meet the low-carbon needs of our customers.”

Fitted with auto start-stop as standard, the 1.6-litre TDCi engine returns over 65mpg and emits only 114g/km CO2 whilst the turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine is capable of 134mph, delivers 41.5mpg and emits 149g/km CO2.”

The new Volkswagen CC is now available to order at your nearest Mon Motors Volkswagen retailer. It is a car that has matured into a premium model within its class. Since the models launch as the Passat CC back in 2008, there have been many advancements which have changed the cars exterior and enhanced its equipment levels. This model was initially launched in 2008 as the Passat CC, but its evolution through design and technology has encouraged Volkswagen to lose Passat from its name and become the stand alone CC, within the Volkswagen model range.

The new Volkswagen CC will arrive with a subtle exterior makeover.  At the front, the new radiator grille has strong horizontal lines that represent Volkswagen’s new design DNA, flanked by new bi-xenon headlights and topped with a reprofiled bonnet. The bumper has an extra air intake and silver-coloured ‘winglets’ that frame the fog lights.

Frameless doors are carried over from the previous model, but more sculpted sills, revised bumpers and the new bonnet create a subtly updated silhouette.The rear bumper has also been completely redesigned, with new LED tail lights and number plate.

The new Volkswagen CC has been enhanced by many new standard and optional features over its predecessor. The CC will include technologies that Volkswagen has previously kept within the realm of models Touareg and Phaeton. Many of these new features will come as standard:

- Rear-view camera.
- Bi-xenon headlights including daytime running lights, integrated indicators and static cornering lights.
- LED rear lights.
- LED number plate illumination.
- Stainless steel door sill trims.
- Four-way adjustable headrests.
- XDS advanced differential lock on 2.0 TSI 210PS and 2.0 TDI 170PS.
- Headlight washers.
- Driver alert system.

The new Audi A4 and S4 range was given its international launch in Portugal last week. A select number of the UK’s top motoring journalists were invited to put the ranges through their paces on bespoke routes in the winter sunshine, in and around Lisbon.

Journalists were able to fully examine the new Audi A4 Saloon, Audi A4 Avant, Audi A4 allroad and the stand out Audi S4 Saloon with its feisty 333PS, 3.0 TFSI engine.

Feedback from the launch so far has been exciting. Autocar magazine gave the S4 four out of five stars, with reviewer Gavin Conway saying: “The latest S4 is a beautifully made piece that isn’t too ‘shouty’ about its performance… It feels, in the end, like a grown-up’s hot rod. And that’s a good thing.”

Conway calls the S4 ‘very classy’ and adds: “The S4’s interior remains a terrific place to spend time, with fabulously supportive seats and a deep sense of quality.”

And Conway is just as impressed with the car’s performance. “This car is still a totally convincing driver’s tool… the performance on offer is utterly addictive,” he writes. The car’s handling comes in for praise, too: “You can get the S4 to flow beautifully on a twisting stretch of mountain road, and steering feedback is particularly good.”

The Tokyo Motor Show was the chosen venue for Volkswagen to showcase its concept SUV of the future – the Cross Coupé. This was a big clue as to the future direction for Volkswagen’s SUV styling and all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid engine may indicate Volkswagen’s future direction to produce more and more fuel efficient vehicles. 

It also defines a new stage in Volkswagen engineering design, being the first model based on the company’s new ‘modular transverse matrix’ – or MQB – to be shown publicly.

At 4,345 mm, the concept car being shown in Tokyo is longer than a Golf and shorter than a Tiguan. The width of 1,868 mm and height of 1,523 mm also come exactly in between these two bestsellers, meaning that the Cross Coupé’s dimensions place it at the heart of the globally in-demand A segment.

The design of the car – penned by a team led by Volkswagen Group Chief Designer Walter de Silva and Brand Design Chief, Klaus Bischoff – features the characteristic horizontal lines of the Volkswagen ‘face’ at the front while linking to the future with a completely new light and grille treatment. The rear is dominated by steeply sloping angles and new distinctive light clusters which are combined with SUV-like chunky bumpers and twin tailpipes.

If this first concept is a nod to the future of Volkswagen’s engineering design then we cannot wait to see it translated in to a UK production car.

Business Car magazine decided to take a ŠKODA Superb estate GreenLine II for a long-term test drive. Now that they have completed over 9000 miles of testing, what was the verdict?

Tristan Young, a journalist for the Business Car website summarised their findings with this statement: “At £24,000, I don’t know why it isn’t the default option for more fleets and drivers… you won’t find better for less,”

He then went on to say: “We set out to see if one of the more capacious estate cars on the market could also be one of the most fuel-efficient, and the Superb estate didn’t disappoint,” added Tristan. “We saw a high of 68mpg for one tank of fuel, which is well above the official combined figure of 64.2mpg, and the average for our 9000-plus miles was 59mpg. The overall figure may be a touch shy of the official (and from a personal point of view I’m annoyed with myself for not cracking 60mpg) but it is still seriously impressive.”

The report adds that you need to drive “like a saint” to get such remarkable fuel economy, but acknowledges how even on a seriously testing run across Scotland, with the car loaded to the gunnels, the driver couldn’t get fuel consumption below 51mpg.

“Best of all, though, was the fact you can have this ultra-efficiency without any sacrifices. We’ve already said how big the car is, but in Elegance trim the Superb is a luxurious place to spend your miles,” concludes the report.

The prestigious International Green Apple Environment Awards were held recently which serves to highlight the benefits and profits that can be achieved by adopting environmental best practice in a host of industries.

The awards are produced by an independent group call The Green Organisation which is dedicated to promoting great environmental behaviours. New cars were recognised for the first time at this years ceremony, with the Yeti E 2.0 TDI CR taking the top accolade in its ‘Smaller SUV and 4×4’ category.

The award was judged by members of the Midland Group of Motoring Writers, who commented that “It does everything you need a car to do and you get a lot of car for the money. This is actually that rare beast – an SUV with luggage space,”

ŠKODA UK Product Marketing Manager Chris Horrell was delighted with the prize: “The Yeti has been a game-changing car for ŠKODA, and to win an award based around its environmental credentials is fantastic. That we’re the first winner of this honour makes it doubly special.”

Our Audi centres in Bristol and Cardiff made a real effort for Children in Need this year, with staff at both locations dressing up for the day and encouraging customers to get involved with the fundraising too.

Bristol Audi and the Mon Motors Accident Repair Centre at St Vincent’s raised over £700 which was a significant improvement on the £450 raised last year. As you can see, staff from all departments of the business got in to the spirit of the day and dressed up in a variety of costumes and donated to the cause.

Food donated by staff and local business was also brought in for the day which was then given to people in exchange for donations to Children in Need.

A special mention for James Gravenor who is a Sales Executive at Bristol Audi because he decided to have his head shaved for Children in Need, which raised £124 in its own right.

Staff at Cardiff Audi came to work in fancy dress too and had a number of other activities going on through the day which all helped raise a grand total of £1343 for Children in Need.

Local hairdresser and beauty expert Hollie Bowen was on hand for the day and offered staff and customers the chance to get a trim in exchange for a donation to Children in Need. Hollie is the daughter of Julie Purser-Stephens who works in the Café at Cardiff Audi.

An exercise bike was donated for the day by FitnessFirst so that staff and customers could take part in the biking challenge that was pedalled continuously from 9.00am until 6.30pm.

An auction, raffle and buffet also helped encourage staff and customers alike to give so generously to the cause.

Both centres are already planning what they can do next time to make the fundraising for Children in Need even more successful in 2012.

On 1 November Audi broke its all-time record for annual sales in the UK, passing the mark previously set in 2008 of 101,522.

This fantastic figure illustrates just what a superb year it’s been for Audi in the UK. This is not only a record in terms of volume, but also represents a record market share for the brand of six per cent, compared to 5.2 per cent in 2010.

Audi’s performance in the UK for the ten months to the end of October is all the more impressive when set against the backdrop of a difficult UK car market and economic challenges. The brand has achieved growth of 17 per cent in retail sales this year, while the UK car market has contracted by 12 per cent, compared to 2010. We have also outperformed the fleet market, with Audi fleet sales growing 10.5 per cent against four per cent growth in the market overall.

What’s more, Audi has outperformed its main rivals in the premium sector in terms of sales in 2011 October year-to-date. This is the first year ever that Audi has been ahead of BMW after September, and the brand is currently 29,000 units ahead of Mercedes.

Most importantly, our accomplishments so far this year are testament to the incredible job done by everyone involved the Brand – you have all played your part in our success so far, and we are confident that, with your continued support, we can go on to achieve our full year ambition.