A service advisor from Galway has become the first female to take one of the top prizes in Toyota's Pan-European Skills Grand Prix.European Skills Grand Prix awards the company's top service advisors in Europe. As part of the competition, each partic

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The new Citroen C5 has been voted Ireland's top car for 2009 by the 28 members of the Irish Motoring Writers Association (IMWA) in the association's annual new car awards event. The Citroen C5 was named the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2009 at a ce

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The Opel Insignia has been named Car of the Year 2009 (COTY) by a panel of car journalists from 23 countries, recognising the mid-sized car as revolutionary for the brand. The Car of the Year is a designation given by 59 senior motoring correspondent

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Alfa Romeo Ireland has recently announced the pricing of its new sporty compact, the new Alfa MiTo. The MiTo sees the return of Alfa Romeo to a segment it has not competed in for some years. The Alfa MiTo is available to order in Ireland from Novembe

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Ford has dropped the entry prices for the new Ford Ka, which is due to go on sale in advance of Christmas. The new entry price is &euro11,535 (plus delivery charges), which Ford claims is some &euro800 below that of the outgoing model. The price sa

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Toyota Ireland launched a partnership with the Irish School of Excellence supporting the Secondary Schools Driver Education Programme. The programme teaches transition year students the rudimentary requirements of safe driving. With the support of

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Ford is selling its 20 per cent share in Mazda as part of its effort to raise cash. The Ford Motor Company expects to raise around $540 million by selling its large slice of Mazda.

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General Motors (GM) has announced that it is selling its three per cent stake in the Japanese carmaker Suzuki for $230 million to raise cash. Suzuki said it would buy back the stake. Suzuki, which specialises in small cars, said the two companies wo

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Mothers are better drivers than fathers and children feel happier when women are behind the wheel, according to a survey by Hyundai. Youngsters said their fathers were aggressive, drove too fast and lost their tempers quickly when in the driving seat

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As well as offering added safety in the snow, cold weather tyres provide a safer option when driving on cold and wet roads. Tyre specialists advise motorists to consider fitting cold weather tyres in order to improve road safety and reduce the number

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An online survey by the Autotrader magazine in the UK has revealed many drivers have traded in their large vehicles for smaller, more fuel efficient cars with more drivers expected to follow their lead. The motoring website also discovered that nea

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Maybe it was the hot magenta colour, but Ford's new supermini took a while to grow on me. Ford had made the efforts; they came with a bigger Fiesta, one that was claimed to be more fuel efficient and safer than in the past. So why was I so slow to re

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The AA has released shocking findings that show that 18.5 per cent of second hand cars imported into Ireland from the UK have had their mileage doctored. AA believes that the practise, called clocking, has got much worse in recent years. The analys

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Second generation biofuels based on sugar cane present a sustainable solution to the world's energy needs, a leading expert claimed at a recent seminar in Dublin. Speaking at the Green Power Forum, Anders Fredriksson of leading Swedish biofuel compan

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Volvo Cars and toy manufacturer Viking Toys have launched a playful collaboration - Volvo cars for the youngest members of the family. The XC90, Volvo XC70 and Volvo C30 will be produced in soft, safe and durable plastic in the classic colours yell

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Surprise legislative changes across several key European markets have prompted Renault to put plans for its next Espace multi-purpose vehicle range on hold. The car was due to reach showrooms next year, but the launch of the new version of the trends

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The European Commission has joined forces with car manufacturers to set up a task force to promote 'green' cars. The 'green' cars task force aims to get together all relevant stakeholders to explore technical, regulatory and economic hurdles and sugg

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Honda's new eight generation Accord has been launched on the Irish market.The new car is expected to provide a strong challenge to the traditional premium manufacturers in the D-sector. All engines in the line up will be Euro 5 emissions compliant, a

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Lexus has announced details of the new IS range for 2009. The new models have small styling changes, with new colour choices and a fresh range of alloy wheel designs. The most notable upgrade is the provision of Lexus's advanced handling and safety

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The European Commission has imposed fines totalling €1.3 billion on car glass manufacturers Asahi, UK-based Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Soliver for illegal market sharing and exchange of commercially sensitive information

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General Motors (GM), which owns Opel, has reported a net loss of $2.5 billion worldwide in the third quarter as sales revenue tumbled to $37.9bn, down from $43.7bn in the year-ago quarter. The reduction in sales reflected, what GM called 'dramatic sa

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Audi's TT sports coupe is an iconic car within the Audi range. And the company's diesel engines are also very much part of the modern Audi tradition. Mix the two and you get a sports coupe with modern stylish looks and impressive thrift. The question

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Mazda has introduced a new 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine, which will be fitted in the first instance in the new Mazda6 car. This new engine is claimed to deliver extra power with low emissions and low consumption.

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A shortlist of two models in each of the five categories of the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2009 has been announced by the Irish Motoring Writers Association.

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Ford has announced full details on the spec and prices for the new Fiesta model, which has just been launched on the Irish market. The new Ford Fiesta will be based on three main series, Style, Zetec-S and Titanium.

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As Euro NCAP, the European safety organisation, moves closer to its vision ‘for safer cars’, it has released details about the scoring behind the organisation’s new car safety rating. With the implementation of the new rating scheduled for 2009,

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Changes in working patterns have reduced death and serious injury on the roads at peak times on Fridays, according to analysis by AA road safety experts in the UK. In the past, Fridays were known as 'Fatal Fridays', due to the higher rate of road

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As BMW has reported a drop in profits, the German-based car company said it can no longer give a forecast for 2008 because of the word economic downturn.

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The Irish motor industry may be bracing itself for poorer new car sales figures from October but things are not as bad as in the US, according to recent reports. US car sales are reported to have dropped to their lowest October level for 30 years.

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One of the world's largest car surveys has named BMW as most reliable brand, with the 3 Series named the most reliable car in a historic win over Japanese brands. The German marque topped the charts in the 2008 Fleet News' 'FN50' publication's vehi

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Citroen have announced first details of changes to the C1 that will give the chic, ultra-economical city-car new exterior styling for 2009. The upgrade car comes with an even better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions rating together with a number o

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Volkswagen claims that the new Passat BlueMotion model is the most efficient, economical and environmentally friendly Passat yet produced. Building on the gains in efficiency made by the existing Passat BlueMotion, the new BlueMotion 2 features a

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Hyundai has launched what it believes will be two world beating diesel engines. The engines, in either 2.0 or 2.2-litre format, are Euro-5 compliant and develop 184bhp and 200bhp respectively. Hyundai believes that the bigger of these two engines riv

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Citroen has launched a new SensoDrive version of the compact, high cube Citroen Nemo van. The SensoDrive system gives a clutchless automated manual transmission, which provides a conventional automatic transmission’s two-pedal driving convenience wit

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Galway people are being invited to get down to Windsor Galway on the Monivea Road on Thursday, 6 November for an exclusive preview of the 2009 Nissan range.

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Volvo Cars has engaged the Swedish glassworks Orrefors in the work with the company's next concept car, which will be a first taste of the next-generation Volvo S60. The joint creation is a floating centre stack of hand-made Orrefors crystal.

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Almost 90 per cent of cyclists fail to stop at zebra crossings, according to a UK report by the TRL (Transport Research Laboratory). In doing so they could have been prosecuted for dangerous cycling. However, very few cyclists are ever prosecuted

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Porsche said it plans to raise its stake in Volkswagen to 75 per cent next year, as it company aims to be Europe's largest carmaker.

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PSA Peugeot Citroen has said it will cut its 2008 profitability outlook and start 'massive' production cuts, as the global car sales downturn bites hard. The report came as figures showed third-quarter sales declined 5.2 per cent, underlining slowi

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Ford is reported to be close to selling its 33.4 per cent stake in Mazda as part of its need to raise cash, as the American motor industry continues into a deepening crisis.

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The Italian Fiat Group, which reported a small trading profit gain for Q3 has issued a warning of deteriorating demand conditions that could impact the company's financial outlook.

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Renault's New Kangoo Van range has added a further key selling point to its attractiveness, as it prepares to do battle in the hotly contested compact van sector, with confirmation of a three year warranty (first two years unlimited mileage) acro

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Drivers are reminded to check their tyre tread depth to stay safe on the roads this winter, after one of the wettest summers on record.

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Nissan has given us the first look at the upcoming 2009 370Z Coupe, which makes its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday 19 November.

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Reducing fuel consumption and significantly increasing tread life only make sense if the gains are made without compromising the tyre's safety performance.

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To ensure maximum performance and reliability, as well as safe and secure driving during the winter months, BMW Ireland is offering a free winter check on all BMWs to ensure maximum performance and reliability, as well as safe and secure driving du

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With an 8.4 per cent year-on-year growth, Mazda now claims to be the largest growing volume manufacturer in the Ireland, with an extra 337 Mazda models on the roads since last year.

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BMW Group claims that it will be the world's first manufacturer of premium automobiles to deploy a fleet of some 500 all-electric vehicles for private use in daily traffic.

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Ford Transits were the first and second placed vans in a recent fuel economy test, with best-in-class fuel consumption and lowest cost per kilometre. The 2.2-litre Ford Transit TDCi short and medium wheelbase vans were the most payload-efficient

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We had our first hint of frost last week, indicating the arrival of winter time, which can be bad news for motorists.

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