Honda’s UK investment, Audi’s RS5 Cabriolet and a step in the right direction for fair fuel

The biggest auto news of the day from OSV Ltd.

Today, your daily news consists of a another great investment in the UK motor industry, an Audi debut and a progression in the UK’s fuel price war.

Today Honda announced that they would be making a rather large investment of £267 million into their Swindon plant, as well as increasing its existing 3,000 work force by 500 team members!

The aim of this is for the plant to produce a new 1.6-litre diesel engine in addition to its new Civic and CR-V car models.

Honda expressed today that its Swindon plant was the ‘cornerstone’ of its European business. Although the plant builds cars and engines for up to 60 different countries world wide, 40% of Swindon’s production will be sold in the UK.

The news is encouraging after Tuesday’s news where Vauxhall announced it was stopping production from its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants for a week from 24th September to prevent stock build up.

However, both BMW and Nissan have also increased production in Britain this year which many people are  hoping raises economic and job stability for many in the UK.

Dave Hodgetts, Managing Director of Honda UK, states “Sales in the UK are up about 10%, so we are in a strong position,” continuing “Europe is not quite so good, but is holding up.”

In further news…Audi have finally (after a long, long campaign) had its  online premier of the RS5 Cabriolet, and we think it’s gorgeous.

Some of the car’s statistics:

As in the open-top version of the RS5 Coupe, the Cabriolet gets the same suite of performance and mechanical upgrades including a 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine that generates 444hp (450PS) at 8,250 rpm and a maximum torque of 430Nm (318 lb-ft) between 4,000 and 6,000 rpm.  The Cabriolet variant is slightly slower completing the 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint in 4.9 seconds (vs. 4.5 sec), while top speed is electronically limited to 250km/h (155mph), although Audi can boost this to 280 km/h (174 mph) upon request.

The car will make its official launch along side many other cars at the Paris Motor Show which is later this month and is going to be an exciting 2 weeks for the motor industry!

Watch the Audi in motion here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vN0OuBmLfAM

(OSV will have a representative at the Paris Motor Show so remember to check our blog, twitter and Facebook for the most up to date coverage!)

And finally…The Office for Fair Trading has announced that it is prepare to open an inquiry into the pricing of fuel. Petrol prices rose by 38% between June 2007 and June this year, and diesel prices went up by 43% over the same period. This extortionate rate is not only due to the price of crude oil, but also down to government tax and duty.

They will be asking for evidence on the following issues.

• Do pump prices fall quickly enough when the oil price falls?

• Are there areas of the country where people are paying too much because there is no effective competition – particularly in remote rural areas?

• Are the oil companies and big retailers like supermarkets playing fair?

This is brilliant news for everyone that has fought along side FairFuelUK to establish fair pricing. The battle is not over, but it’s a great step and it’s vital that we carry on supporting them in our united fight. Visit www.fairfueluk.com to join in.