Steve Davies

The simple plan to 'tidy up' SkiddMark's website over Christmas got a little out of hand as I added more requirements to our list of improvements. You see, like any website the design and functionality of SkiddMark has evolved since the last redesign leaving an untidy mess of redundant code inside that was getting in the way of publishing stories.

This feels like a good-news story to me as we near the end of 2011. Toyota/Lexus who seemingly abandoned the sports car segment, first with the Supra in 2002 followed by the MR2 in 2007, are back and to use an old cliché, "this time they're serious."

If you're a UK Audi customer, then you'll need to petition loudly if you hope to park a new A1 Quattro on your driveway, but will many of you bother? Just 333 examples of the A1 Quattro are scheduled to be made, but they're all left-hand-drive and bound for mainland Europe in the second half of 2012.

We hear a lot about Intelligence in the motoring industry, it's become the norm in automotive acronyms, especially for the leading German car makers - Intelligent Performance, Intelligent Lightweight Construction and even Intelligent Emotion (whatever that means) - but how intelligent is their marketing?

The Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid is the world's first diesel plug-in hybrid and is Volvo Car Corporation's most technically advanced model ever - an electric car, hybrid car and muscle-car all rolled into one.

Lexus will unveil a new concept vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 9, 2012, joining Honda who this morning confirmed its NSX Concept will premiere at the same event.

In these more frugal times, even a brand like Bentley needs to steer away from conspicuous levels of consumption that used to be the watchword for high-performance luxury car makers. Statements such as "If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it", have been replaced by "..it has quite a modest carbon footprint".

If you're in the market for a prestigious, elegant, 4-door BMW then you've now got three models to choose from - 5 Series, 7 Series and the 4-door 6 Series Gran Coupe. With the 7 Series positioned more as a limousine, the new 6 Series Gran Coupe will be a welcome addition for the user-chooser executive.