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New Mercedes GLA teased on video

Thye new Mercedes GLA (pictured) teased on video ahead of Frankfurt It was only last week we revealed that the latest iteration of the new Mercedes A-Class – the Mercedes GLA Compact SUV – would be making its debut at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show in production guise. And now Mercedes are starting the tease. They kicked of late yesterday with a sketch of the new GLA, but as we’ve already seen the concept at Geneva, and designers sketches are not exactly the most reliable interpretation of the reality, we didn’t see much point in republishing them (you can see them on Mercedes Facebook page).

Great British cars immortalised on Royal Mail stamps

Throughout the 20th century a series of great British cars have put their stamp on the world, now the Royal Mail has put some of these iconic motors on stamps. The Auto Legends stamp collection celebrates the six thoroughbred British cars that led the world with their artistry and engineering. Alongside them are four workhorses that may have been less celebrated but have still done more than their fair share to further the British car industry’s cause over the years.

Toyota Hybrid-R concept is 400hp Yaris

Toyota Toyota has confirmed the Hybrid-R concept is based on an existing production model – but it won’t be a souped-up version of the GT86 sports car as we initially suspected. Instead a new picture reveals something far more radical: the Hybrid-R is a 400hp petrol-electric Yaris. Yes, Yaris.

Ayrton Senna's Honda NSX for sale

'Never raced or rallied' is a term you'll often see on a classified ad. But if the car was formerly driven by Ayrton Senna, you'd find it a little hard to believe. And even if it had been, would you care?

Toyota Hybrid-R Concept – a Yaris with 400bhp – teased for Frankfurt

The Toyota Hybrid-R Concept (pictured) is a 400bhp Yaris Hybrid heading for Frankfurt We’ve always believed that the best use for hybrid powertrains is to get extra performance without the penalty of increased fuel consumption. Toyota, on the other hand, have primarily used their impressive – if complicated and expensive – hybrid powertrains to yield improved economy and emissions from more prosaic cars like the Prius, Yaris and Auris. But now it looks like Toyota are ready to show us what hybrid technology can offer in the way of performance too, with a tease for what Toyota are calling the Hybrid-R Concept, which appears to be a Yaris with more than 400bhp on tap.

Fines for middle-lane hogs from this Friday

Motoring Research New fixed penalties for careless driving – including needlessly hogging the middle-lane of the motorway – come into force on Friday 16 August. According to the AA, almost a third of British motorists could be at risk of picking up a £100 fine and three penalty points for this under the new rules. So it has come up with some top tips for driving on the motorway, to help us all out.

Learner driver sits test 110 times

A 28-year-old woman has sat her driving theory test 110 times, costing the unnamed candidate a whopping £3,410 in test fees. It’s unknown whether the candidate actually passed her driving theory test at the 110th attempt. Reported by the Daily Mirror, the figures released under a Freedom of Information Act request to the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) stand as a new record for failing the first section of the UK’s two-part driving test.

Mercedes B-class fuel-cell drivers tell all

We met in a Los Angeles gas station, directly under the landing lights of LAX's south runway, our conversation interrupted regularly by the Prattt & Whitney thrust of 757s and Super 80s. We could easily be the main characters in an espionage thriller, handing off secret documents at great personal risk. But we're not.

Honda Civic Tourer shown ahead of Frankfurt motor show reveal

Honda has shown its new Civic Tourer just ahead of its reveal at the Frankfurt motor show in September. Designed by Honda's European design studios, the Civic Tourer is expected to go on sale in Europe in early 2014. The Civic Tourer will be available with either the Earth Dreams 1.6 i-DTEC diesel engine or the 1.8 i-VTEC gas engine when arrives, along with a manual or automatic transmission.

This week in 1963: N

Safety is a priority for drivers, teams and courses. Over the past century automobile safety has been slowly evolving (or rapidly evolving, if Ralph Nader has had anything to say about it). Needless to say, it is unusual for a safety feature that performed its function to make news.

Help us find this band's stolen van

Life on the road as a touring musician is hard. It's much harder when some jerk makes off with your van and all your gear. Today, we're asking all who read this to keep an eye out for the white Ford Econoline pictured above.

Elon Musk unveils Hyperloop

Elon Musk has been teasing us with something called the Hyperloop for a while now, referring to some Goldbergian cross between a railgun and an air hockey table that would zoot us and scoot us from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half-hour. Now, in a 57-page PDF available here or here, he's outlined just what Hyperloop could be. Bad news?

Land Rover testing electric Defender 110 pickup

Land Rover has begun testing an electric version of the Land Rover Defender first shown at the 2012 Geneva motor show. The electric Defender prototype is in service at the Eden Project in Cornwall, U.K., a complex of several large transparent domes that house multiple artificially maintained environments containing thousands of rare plants, and is a popular visitor attraction. At the moment the electric Defender isn't exactly tearing through the Amazon rainforest, but the work it's doing is nevertheless a good approximation of how quite a lot of Defenders are used in real life -- at least in terms of speed and duration of use.

One Lap of the Web: Nine cars you'll drive in hell, airbag watermelon destruction and luxury, Soviet-style

-- After carefully weighing the options, Motor Authority has arrived at a list of the nine cars you'll drive in hell. The Aztek is an easy (if misunderstood) target, and the Renault Fuego makes sense on the basis of its name alone but there are a few unexpected additions, too -- like the Tesla Model S, which won't be easy to keep running because “… Hell is a lot like the San Francisco airport--roughly five thousand people and their 25,000 battery-powered devices, all fighting for a pull off Hell's only functional power outlet.” -- Don't ask us why, but we're fascinated with old Soviet steel, from the no-nonsense heavy duty trucks the crappy Cars of the People. The supposedly luxurious, Packard-inspired Chaika M-13 limousine sits somewhere between the two, and you can read a Special Interest Auto article on the car at Hemmings.

Audi RS6 Avant is the Audi R18 e-tron quattro for the road (video)

Audi compare the Audi R18 e-tron quattro (pictured) to the RS6 Avant We’re not entirely sure how Audi has come to the conclusion that the RS6 Avant is comparable to the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, but they have. In a new video to promote the RS6 Avant – perhaps the pick of the crop of current uber-estates – Audi has the e-tron quattro out on the road in a series of familiar everyday pursuits. So we get the e-tron quattro waiting patiently to collect hubby from the airport, as the c ar to drive to the hills to ride a mountain bike, outside a hotel with luggage on the pavement, collecting the kids from school, parked on the river bank for a fishing trip and as a dog transporter.

Next-generation Chevy Volt to have 60-mile electric range?

On the heels of the recently announced price cut for the 2014 Volt, General Motors chief executive Dan Akerson is suggesting that we may see a Volt with 60-mile electric range in three or four years. In an interview with Bloomberg, Akerson suggests that GM is hoping for a "significant" improvement in the extended-range Chevy's ability to run solely on electric power. “For something to be significant to me, I gotta get at least 20 percent improvement in performance," the CEO asserted.

Vintage Porsche 911s, 912s and 356s to cross the block Aug. 24

Porschephiles: This is your time to buy, this is your best chance to get in the game, this is your nirvana. On Aug. 24, a collection of nearly 200 squashed Beetles from Stuttgart are going on sale through Anglia Car Auctions in Kings Lynn, England.

Spyker D8 SUV back in 2014 – but when did it become mid-engined?!

Apparently, the Spyker D8 SUV (pictured) will somehow be mid-engined It’s no surprise that Spyker are heading to the 2014 Geneva Motor Show with a ‘new’ version of their ‘Super SUV’ D8 Peking-Paris. That’s because Victor Muller managed to get Youngman to invest €25 million in the D8 project last year (it’s Victor’s speciality) with the plan being to finally take the Spyker SUV closer to a market launch in time to take on the new ‘Super SUVs’ from the likes of Bentley and Lamborghini. But what is a surprise is what Autocar claim Victor said to them about the D8.

Huge 'barn find' Porsche collection for sale

Here at MSN Cars, we often bring you pictures from the world's most exclusive car auctions, where the lots sometimes sell for many millions of pounds. But actually, there's something far more evocative about this collection of around 200 Porsches that are about to be auctioned. Maybe it's the unrestored and unpolished condition of many of the cars on offer.

Jaguar F-Type fleet in Union Jack livery promote ‘Best of British’

A fleet of ‘Union Jack’ Jaguar F-Types (pictured) are touring the UK It all started with Top Gear’s ‘Best of British’ line-up of all things British Automotive on the Mall back in June, which aired a week ago as the finale to Series 20 of Top Gear. That piece was put together on the back of Top Gear’s testing of the new Range Rover Sport and the new Jaguar F-Type, with Top Gear managing to drag all manner of motorised vehicles to the Mall to celebrate proper British success. With the Jaguar F-Types sitting proudly at the front of the assembled ‘Best of British’, Jaguar’s PR machine wisely decided there was mileage in the whole ‘Best of British’ thing, so they’ve launched a competition with the hashtag #YourTurnBritain.

CAR tech: who's to blame for your car's terrible fuel economy?

In early 2013 Audi lost a case brought by the Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) because of ‘misleading’ fuel economy figures used in an advert, after a customer complained they couldn’t get anywhere near the 68mpg quoted. The court case once more exposes the yawning gap between officially sanctioned mpg figures and those experienced by owners. A recent study by the Independent Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) looked at cars sold in the UK and Europe, and discovered the difference between official mpg figures and real-world driving had grown from 8% in 2001 to a barely believable 21% in 2011.

USA, UK & Germany will be top markets for the new BMW i8. You don’t say?

The BMW i8 (Pictured) will sell best in US, UK & Germany In a case of stating the obvious in a bid to keep interest in the BMW i8 high ahead of its debut at Frankfurt next month, Hendrik Wenders – the i8 product manager – has declared the biggest market for the BMW i8 will be the USA. As America is already BMW’s biggest market place, that’s not entirely a shock, and nor is the news that the UK and Germany will be the biggest markets in Europe. After all, they’re the only major economies in Europe without huge falling markets for cars.

Honda Civic Tourer (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

The new Honda Civic Tourer might just be a better looker than its hatchback brother. Binning the split rear window tailgate and forming a ‘floating roofline’ makes for a decent-looking estate – but we expected that after clapping eyes on the concept car. What we can tell you is the showroom-ready Civic Tourer has the biggest boot in the compact estate class, and employs similar suspension technology to that of a Golf GTI – or an Audi R8.

Honda Civic Tourer (2014) officially revealed

We’ve already driven a heavily disguised prototype, but now Honda has revealed its new Civic Tourer estate car in full production-ready guise. The first Civic load-lugger since the Aerodeck. Set to go on sale in the UK early in 2014, it’s promising a class-competitive price.

Mercedes GLA – the A-Class SUV – will arrive in production guise at Frankfurt

The production version of the Mercedes GLA Concept (pictured) will debut at Frankfurt 2013 It’s only three months since the new Mercedes GLA debuted at the Shanghai Motor Show as a concept, but it’s already close to arriving in production guise. In fact, it looks like the new GLA – based on the new Mercedes A-Class underpinnings – will arrive in production form at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, ahead of going on sale in early 2014. The new GLA is aimed squarely at the competition from the BMW X1 and Audi Q3, and if it delivers as well as the A-Class has it stands a very good chance of becoming the pick of the premium compact SUVs.

Tesla Model S to get 4WD option in 2014

The Tesla Model S (pictured) to get 4WD option in 2014 The Tesla Model S is an astonishing success for Tesla, and has turned a company on the edge of financial chaos, and in hock to the government, in to a stock market darling thanks to strong sales and great reviews. Tesla’s next trick should be the arrival of the Model X SUV in 2015, which will be a jacked up Model S with 4WD and the promise of impressive performance at a price that will go right to the heart of SUV/SAV offerings from the Germans and Land Rover. But ahead of the Model X actually arriving in Tesla Showrooms and customers’ hands, it looks like Tesla are set to add a 4WD option to the Model S using the drivetrain they’ve developed for the Model X.

Bridgestone’s ‘We’ve been everywhere’ Road Trip prize giving

Bridgestone’s ‘I’ve been everywhere’ Road Trip Flogging tyres isn’t the easiest job in the world; we all need them – at intervals far too regular than we’d like – but buyers tend to fall in to two camps – those who know a brand and ask for it by name, and those that have put on their car whatever the man at Kwik Fit is pushing this week. So ‘Brand Awareness’ is the name of the game (a game that can backfire – just ask Pirelli what’s going on in F1) and the more potential buyers a tyre brand can lodge its name in the brain of, the better. Which is why Bridgestone are running their We’ve been everywhere interactive campaign which very cleverly plots the escape of one man from office drudgery and showcases his journey out in to the proper world, all to a soundtrack of Johnny Cash’s ‘I’ve been everywhere’.

Yet another Kia Compact Crossover Concept heading for Frankfurt 2013

Yet another Kia Compact Crossover Concept (pictured) heading for Frankfurt We do seem to have had something of a run of concepts from Kia lately – particularly Compact SUV/Crossover Concepts – but none seem to be heading for production. Already in 2013 we’ve had the Kia Provo Concept, which looked like a suitably funky urban warrior to take on the market the Nissan Juke made its own, even if the ‘Provo’ name caused publicity-seeking politicians to spit and stomp. Following close on the heels of the Provo came the Kia CUB for the Seoul Motor Show (note the cuddly name – Kia didn’t want to shoot themselves in the foot again) which, although entirely convincing, just looked like yet another urban warrior compact crossover/SUV.

Ultimate MINI John Cooper Works goes up for auction

British Car Auctions (BCA) is offering one very specially specified MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works. The car is set to go under the hammer on Wednesday 15 August at BCA's Blackbushe auction centre. This MINI actually boasts nearly every factory option originally available for the car and cost over £30,000 when it was built back in 2011 – from customised exterior and interior parts, engine and chassis upgrades and in-car gadgets, this MINI is full to bursting with options. And it could be yours… Please click on the image above to read more on the mega specification MINI John Cooper Works

Schumacher's old F1 car sells for a bargain £195k

When can you ever call a £195,000 classic Formula One car a bargain? When it was driven by the most successful F1 driver ever, Michael Schumacher. This Benetton-Ford B191 was due to go up for auction with Coys this Saturday 10 August at the Nurburgring, but the car has now been sold ahead of going under the hammer for just £195,000.