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A Tribute To The Martini Racing Team’s 7 WRC Titles With Lancia

Lancia and the Martini Racing Team are prominently embedded in the history of the World Rally Championship (WRC), especially during that glorious period of the Group B super rallycars. The Italian cars, with the blue, light blue and red stripes, are just as well remembered as the Audi Quattro and Peugeot 205 Turbo.

Of the many rallies the team entered, it was during 1983 when the refined strategy and brilliance of team boss Cesare Fiorio beat Audi to take the first WRC title with the 037. It inspired the Martini Racing Team to continue competing with determination over the next 10 years. The 037 was succeeded by first the S4, and then the Delta Integrali which won another 6 world titles.

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New Record For Vehicle Sales In March 2023

March was the final month for delivery of new vehicles that were exempted from sales tax, the provision having been allowed by the Finance Ministry after the tax exemption ended on June 30, 2022. Understanding that the demand had been very great as many people wanted to save on the sales tax, and production was not sufficient to fulfill the orders by the deadline, the ministry allowed the car companies until March 31, 2023 to deliver the vehicles booked before the deadline.

The 9-month allowance was certainly appreciated as the industry had production disruptions due to shortages of parts, especially microprocessors. During the second half of last year, vehicle output was inconsistent even though efforts were being made to maximise the numbers, with priority being given to the tax-exempted orders.

Furthermore, March is also the end of the financial year for some car companies and there is usually a final strong push to end the financial year with the best numbers. Thus the March Total Industry Volume (TIV) of new vehicles shot up by 24% to reach 78,849 passenger and commercial vehicles.

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Ferrari’s Leclerc To Join Mercedes?

Lewis Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes will expire at the end of 2023 and a new agreement has not yet been reached. Both Lewis and team principal Toto Wolff stated their desire to continue working together.

A prized position will become available if Hamilton decides to part ways with Mercedes after winning six world championships in a successful tenure with the Silver Arrows.

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Illegally Parked Car Summoned, Vandalised And Clamped

A recent viral video on Twitter shows a car that has been summoned, vandalised and clamped for illegally parking.

The vehicle owner shows us a walk-around shot of his vandalised Proton Wira and a note that was stuck onto his windshield. There were several cusswords written on the car with a marker and the front left tire was clamped. Also attached to the wiper is a traffic summons.

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Selling Ford Trucks In The World’s Most Advanced EV Market?

The Europeans never really liked SUVs because they were seen as big, heavy, consumed excessive fuel and were therefore not good for the environment. Pick-up trucks have been moderately tolerated but generally, they have preferred their small vans and stationwagons if they required something more utilitarian to carry stuff.

Of course, over the past 10 years, European carmakers themselves have also begun offering SUVs but they are more passenger car-like. They are compact and use passenger car platforms and drivetrains, so they are still largely cars with the looks of SUVs. And they are in great demand too…

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Skoda To Be Responsible For EA 211 Engine Development For Volkswagen Group

While the Volkswagen Group has a strong commitment and determination to electrify its range during this decade, it is still not ready to stop offering models powered by internal combustion engines (ICE). Not all markets and regions are ready to use only electric vehicles (EVs) so there will still be a need for combustion engines, and therefore some development needs to continue.

Being a large group with 9 car-making companies (Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Skoda, SEAT, CUPRA, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche), the Volkswagen Group obviously has a lot of R&D resources which it can use. This allows the massive costs of R&D to be spread out, enabling better competitiveness for each brand.

One example is the MEB platform (it stands for Modularer E-Antriebs Baukasten or modular electric-drive toolkit) which has been developed specifically for EVs. First used in the Volkswagen ID.3 in 2019, it is now being used by new models in the other brands and even by Ford.

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