In a new survey conducted by Brand Finance Global 500, Ferrari has topped the lot, being named the strongest brand in the world.

The survey takes into account a whole host of things, including the average price spent on advertising and marketing, as well as the average amount of revenue from each customer.

Outdoing other car manufactures, including Audi and BMW, Ferrari also beat the likes of Google and Coca-Cola. While Apple still dominates the list of most valuable brands, at a staggering $87 billion, Ferrari’s business performance is also on the up and up with an 8% increase in total revenue for 2012 – a record figure for them.

It seems that Ferrari’s big-budget promotions have certainly paid off.

Nominees Announced

World Car Awards have recently announced the top finalists for the 2013 World Car of the Year, as well as the World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the year – but you’ll have to wait until 28th March to hear the final results, with the top three finalists in each award category being announced on the 5th, at Geneva’s International Motor Show.

It looks like it’s going to be another big one this year, with a list of finalists that includes the Audi A3, the new A-Class from Mercedes-Benz, the latest Range Rover, the Mazda6 and Mazda CX5, as well as the Peugeot 208, Porsche Boxter/Cayan, Scion FR-S, Volkswagen’s Golf and the Volvo V40 all looking to score points with the judges.

Last year’s winner of the 2012 World Car of the Year was the clever, compact Volkswagen Up!, which managed to fend off stiff competition from its rival finalists, the BMW 3 Series and Porsche’s 911.

The Up! even managed to beat yet another rival last year in December, snatching the Guinness World Record for tightest parallel park from the Mini, which managed to leave a space of just 15 centimetres between two other Minis earlier in the year.

New teaser released from Bentley

Bentley have just released the first pictures of their much anticipated Flying Spur, scheduled for release later in 2013. A four-door version of the hugely popular Continental GT, the Flying Spur is causing quite a stir, with its release hotly anticipated.

Those looking for an early glance of the Flying Spur might not be terribly satisfied with these teaser images, but Bentley have said more details will be announced on 20th February, so keep an eye out!

In the meantime, you can check out Bentley’s new promotional video for the Flying Spur at http://www.newflyingspur.com/.

The new Formula One season is hotting up

For those that follow F1, the new season promises to be an exciting one, with both Red Bull Racing and McLaren recently announcing the arrival of two new racers ready for 2013.

McClaren’s MP4-28 was unveiled to rapturous applause at a special event on 31st January. You can see the entire McClaren’s unveiling on YouTube.

Wheel clamping banned

Changes made to the Protection of Freedoms Act at the end of last year now means that landowners have been banned from wheel-clamping on their private land. The latest developments have been a long time in coming, and signify a win for motorists fed up forking out to rogue clampers and towing companies.

The new changes have been put in place to provide motorists and landowners with a fairer legal framework in which to operate, but it’s still worth exercising some caution.
The British Parking Association have commented that even more needs to be done to tackle indiscriminate clamping, so the problems may still hinder some unlucky motorists!

Also in the news…
We worry about the price we’ll have to pay to use a car park, and we’ll question their security, but we’ll very rarely concern ourselves with what’s buried underneath them…

But in September 2012, after research conducted by hard-working Richard III enthusiasts, a Leicester car park was painstakingly dug up and a skeleton believed to be the remains of Richard III was unearthed.

Are you struggling to find something to buy a car driver a Christmas present? As the festive period gets into full swing you may be swamped by special offers and seemingly fantastic gift ideas and this article will present the 5 of the best Christmas gift ideas for people who drive cars!

If they have a passion for speed or racing, then a track day may be the perfect gift. These are when a racetrack opens its doors for members of the public to have a go at going around a race track. Most tracks in the UK offer this; it’s an opportunity for people with road legal/track prepared cars to emulate their racing idols.

A fan of gadgets who drives would love this next present, the TomTom GO LIVE World Satellite Navigation System. It’s one of the most advanced satellite navigation systems on the market and it provides traffic updates every 2 minutes. That’s SEVEN times more often than any other provider! Another fantastic feature it has is advanced lane guidance, this feature allows drivers to negotiate tricky junctions whilst also allowing users to do a Google search for any local points of interest. It will come pre loaded with 66 international maps. This TomTom Go is a must have for any driver who enjoys using satellite navigation systems.

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