Steve Davies

It's such a refreshing change from some of the mumbo-jumbo advertising we so often see, for a brand to just come out and tell it how it is. This print advert for the fuel retailer Q8 was produced by Ogilvy & Mather in Sweden and describes in the simplest way possible just exactly why drivers should visit their outlets.

New York dance company, Pilobolus Dance, have become Guinness Record Holders after successfully fitting 26 people in a BMW MINI. A standard MINI Hatchback was used for the record attempt, which was held at the EMC Guinness Record Breaking Event yesterday in New York.

It's been a great week for automotive videos as we settle in to the pace of 2011. Ideally we'd limit this to a Top 10 listing, but there are just too many interesting spots to choose from, so forgive this rather lengthy initial post.

Officers from the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) unveiled ajam-jar liveried Lotus Evora today at the ‘Autosport International Show’ at Birmingham’s NEC after which the car will be used on the Midlands’ busy motorway network for a two week period. The CPMG have taken loan of the Lotus Evora to support their campaign to raise awareness and promote road safety.

This morning at the Autosport International Show Caterham revealed their first all-new model in over 20 years - the SP/300.R is a joint project between Caterham and Lola Cars that they describe as "..the perfect alchemy of British engineering superiority and rich motorsport heritage".

I received a heads-up early last week when Steve Hindle, ex-Motorsport Manager for Westfield Sportscars, contacted me and mentioned Lola and Caterham were definitely getting together soon to produce something along the lines of Westfield's XTR.

You may remember the headlines when a video of the new Mercedes SLK leaked onto the internet last month, well now we have the official unveiling of Mercedes' 3rd generation SLK which will be launched in the UK in June, 2011.

The sense we gain from Mercedes' press brief is that they've tried to secure the class-lead in every aspect of this compact roadster segment, now that BMW's Z4 has emulated the SLK's folding-hardtop format the Stuttgart car maker is intent on establishing some clear advantages which will differentiate the SLK in the eyes of the customer.

As the current iteration of Land Rover's venerable Defender reaches its twilight years, the Gaydon manufacturer launches the X-Tech Edition to show that there's still plenty of life left in the old stager. The Defender X-Tech offers raw and edgy style, with the class-leading all-terrain capability you would expect of this motoring icon.

We’ve been a little cynical in the past about Hyundai's promotional campaign for the Sonata Turbo, the Sonata is not exactly the kind of car any of us would associate with 'speed' - in fact stick a Taxi sign on its roof and it would look right at home waiting in the taxi-rank at Slough station. But over in the USA, where there's always been a greater affinity for Japanese and Korean marques, Hyundai have been mounting a campaign to transform the Sonata's dowdy image and re-position it as a car to be desired rather than just used.