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Chauffeur driven Mini Cooper service launched by top hotel in the US

Peninsula Hotels have launched a brand new chauffeur driven Mini Cooper service for guests staying at either their New York or Chicago establishment.

The chauffeur driven Minis will be at the disposal of guests staying at either hotel, with those booked into a suite at the hotels being granted three free hours of travel in the snazzy new ride every day.

The fleet of Mini Coopers come in dark green known, as Peninsula Green by the hotel. Each Mini is fully fitted with an onboard fridge so passengers can enjoy a chilled drink, and also cold towels so they can freshen up during the trip. Extra luggage space has also been added with a box roof rack so there’s plenty of room for shopping bags if you’re planning a bit of a spree.

The official unveiling of the Peninsula Hotel’s Mini Cooper fleet is due to take place in New York this week. The scheme is due to be rolled out in Chicago in time for the Christmas season.

The chauffeur driven Minis will be available for guests to use for sightseeing tours, with a specific tour of New York having already been set up which will take the visitors on a ride around Cloisters Museum, Manhattan and also the Meatpacking District. In Chicago guests can take a tour of famous locations featured in top movies.

The luxurious hotel chain first introduced the chauffeur scheme at its Hong Kong hotel last Christmas, and the service proved so successful, they decided to roll it out across a number of other Peninsula hotels in key areas.

As well as launching chauffeur driven Mini Cooper hire in New York and Chicago, Peninsula Hotels are planning to offer the service at its Tokyo establishment in the New Year.

by Simon BerryNovember 19, 20101 comment

Aston Martin’s Cygnet goes on display in Harrods shop window

The latest offering from Aston Martin, the luxury city car the Cygnet, has gone on display in top London department store Harrods.

The luxury car maker chose the world’s most revered department store for the Cygnet’s world debut. Car fans can now get the first glimpse of the luxury mini-Aston Martin while doing a bit of shopping in London’s Knightsbridge.

The new Cygnet is due to go into production next year at Aston Martin’s manufacturing plant in England. Orders are already being taken for the snazzy city car by Aston Marin dealers in Europe.

The Cygnet is made for city driving with a light, compact design and excellent fuel efficiency. The 2-door Cygnet also boasts the famous Aston Martin grille, and has inverted rear lights for a stylish look.

With a starting price of approximately £30,000, the Cygnet is much pricier than the Toyota iQ minicar which shares the same 1.33 litre engine as the Cygnet and has a starting price of £10,228. The reason for the hefty price tag, according to Aston Martin, is that each Cygnet is handcrafted with everything from the door panels to the bumpers being made with the best materials, by the best craftsmen.

The Cygnet, which is billed by Aston Martin as “luxury city car” will be on display in Harrods’ shop window until December 11^th.

by Simon BerryNovember 17, 2010no comment

Unique Paul Weller designed Mini Cooper goes under the hammer

A unique Mini Cooper designed by mod rocker Paul Weller is to be sold online during a month long auction.

Potential buyers from across the world can bid for the one-of-a-kind Mini Cooper using the online auction site set up especially for the sale of the eye catching mini. The auction opened on November 11^th and will run for four weeks.

All proceeds from the sale of the funky Mini will be split between two charities of Paul Weller’s choice, namely War Child and Nordoff Robins.

Paul Weller took inspiration from a shirt he designed for clothing range, Ben Sherman, for the Mini’s colour design. The vehicle has been hand painted by top craftsmen with a bold pink and brown stripe, with a single silver stripe running the full length of the car from the bonnet to the boot.

If you’d like to see the Paul Weller deigned Mini in all its glory, head down to the car maker’s flagship branch in Park Lane, London, where the car will be on display until the end of the auction.

The 2009 Mini Cooper boasts a number of great features such as heated front seats, Bluetooth technology, full black leather upholstery 17 inch alloys and Chilli Pack.

Paul Weller was seen as the perfect choice of designer for the one-off Mini because both the singer and the car brand are “synonymous with the quintessential British mod scene.”

by Andrew LloydNovember 15, 2010no comment

Jaguar XJ wins big at the Scottish Car of the Year Awards

The accolades are flooding in thick and fast for the Jaguar XJ with the new car model scooping the gong for Best Luxury Car at the Scottish Car of the Year Awards this week beating the BMW 5 series and Audi A8.

This is the second big award the Jaguar XJ has won recently after the Professional Driver Magazine crowned the luxury ride its 2010 Car of the Year at its annual awards ceremony.

The new Jaguar model is available for sale in dealerships across the UK. The award-winning XJ is available in three different engine sizes and four different trim levels, and is also comes with both petrol and diesel engines.

The 3.0 litre V6 petrol engine offers respectable fuel consumption of 40 miles to the gallon which is an important consideration for private hire and chauffeurs to consider.

Prices for the diesel engine Jaguar XJ with a basic luxury specification start at £52,500. The next step up is the Premium Luxury specification, followed by the top of the range Portfolio boasting a 5.0 litre engine. Jaguar also offers a supercharged version of the XJ which comes with in sports trim only, and offers an impressive 470 brake horse power.

The Volvo S60 Saloon and the Kia Sportage Joined the Jaguar XJ as the biggest winners at this year’s Scottish Car of the Year Awards.

by Anita KumarNovember 11, 2010no comment

Audi shows off illuminated floor mats at Las Vegas Show

Audi have unveiled a brand new optional feature for their vehicle interiors at the recent Speciality Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show is Las Vegas.

The illuminated floor mats are lit up with special LED lighting and each mat can be customized to the customer’s requirements. Audi owners will have the chance to choose the colour, graphics and materials used on the new breed of glowing floor mats.

Car manufacturers are striving to come up with new ideas to make their interiors stand out from the crowd. One of the bosses of the After Sales department at Audi say the introduction of the new illuminated floor mats is in reaction to the “high expectations” of their customers for a top specification finish on their new Audi.

The mats are illuminated with special LED lighting which doesn’t give off heat. It is hoped the after sales feature will add an extra dimension to the Audi interior as well an additional ambient lighting facility.

The illuminated mats are an after sales component which will be available through Audi dealers in North America only initially.

As well as the light-up floor mats, Audi also revealed another exciting new feature at the Las Vegas SEMA Show. Audi have created a wireless device which allows passengers to charge up mobile devices such as iPods and iPhones while on the move.

by Anita KumarNovember 4, 2010no comment

Hertz car hire plans to launch more off-airport rental centres

Car Hire Company Hertz say they are focusing their attentions on opening more off-airport rental centres as this area has benefitted from an increase in revenue is the last year.

Hertz predict that their revenue from non-airport based outlets will reach $1 billion from this year alone. If they achieve this figure, it was will be an increase of $100 million compared to 2009.

In order to boost this avenue of income further, Hertz have revealed they plan to open a further 60 new off-airport rental centres by the end of 2010, bringing their total of new non-airport bases this year to 250.

The emphasis on off-airport locations will bring Hertz into direct competition with another leading vehicle rental company, Enterprise.

Although a high percentage of car rental business is generated from airport based outlets, with the recent decline in air travel, many companies are focusing on other areas of the car rental market to keep revenue up.

Non-airport centres are often popular with customers looking to hire a vehicle as a courtesy car while their own vehicle is being repaired, or for corporate clients who maybe travelling around the country on business, or holidaymakers looking to hire a vehicle for leisure purposes.

This area has seen healthy growth in recent times, which Hertz is planning to capitalise on by investing in more non-airport rental centres in the coming year.

by Andrew LloydNovember 1, 2010no comment

Mercedes Benz tops the annual AutoScout 24 survey

Mercedes Benz was revealed as the big winner of this year’s internet auto survey organised by the online automobile marketplace, AutoScout 24.

The awards are now in their 9^th year with 230,000 participants across Europe taking part in the vote to discover the most sought after cars of the moment.

The Mercedes Benz SLS AMG beat 343 other vehicles to be named the most desired car, as voted for by the AutoScout 24 users. The SLS AMG model was found to be the super sports car most Europeans wanted to own. It topped the poll in both the sports car and coupe categories.

And the good news didn’t end there for Mercedes, with the R-Klasse being voted the most popular van and compact van in the online survey.

Top quality German engineering, cutting edge design, and state of the art technology all came together to ensure the Mercedes SLS AMG was the big winner of the survey. The AutoScout 24 poll has now become an annual event, with 230,000 people taking part from across 7 different European countries.

Other car makers were also rated highly among the AutoScout 24 crew including the Fiat500 Twin Air and Opel Astra Sports Tourer.

by Andrew LloydOctober 29, 2010no comment

Electric Audi beats the Nissan Leaf in charge challenge

The newly developed electric Audi A2 has beaten the Nissan Leaf’s charge longevity in a recent test.

The German car maker’s new electrically powered Audi A2 succeeded in covering 372 miles during a7 hour journey with just a single charge, beating the Nissan Leaf’s record of covering 100 miles with a single charge.

Audi say the secret to their success is down to a new technology battery which the company has been developing in conjunction with inventor Mirko Hanneman. The new style battery is 97% efficient and uses DBM Energy’s KOLIBRI AlphaPolymer Technology. The batteries can be charged from any socket point, however if a high DC voltage socket point is used, the car will be fully charged in just 6 minutes.

The test saw the electric powered Audi finish its 372 mile trip with power to spare. The driver didn’t attempt to conserve energy while travelling as the Audi’s in car heaters were also in use during the trip. The electric Audi A2, known as the Lekker Mobil, travelled from Munich Southern Germany to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as part of the test drive.

Nissan’s version of the electric car, The Leaf, is able to cover 160km which is approximately 100 miles, in a single charge. The Nissan Leaf is due to go on sale in the US and Japan at the end of the year, with plans to expand into the European market in 2011.

by Anita KumarOctober 28, 20102 comments

BMW introduce hourly car hire scheme

BMW look set to join the car hire market with news they are about to introduce an hourly car rental scheme in Munich.

The luxury car maker is planning to debut the new car hire system close to the company’s head quarters in Munich. BMW will offer a range of its top vehicles for hire in the city, all of which are available to hire by the hour.

BMW’s decision to introduce a car hire scheme comes as statistics show that more and more people are opting to hire cars, instead of owning them. With the current economic climate, many people are choosing to a hire a car for the times when they need their own transport, in order to save on the cost of running a car of their own.

Daimler have already introduced a similar scheme, Car2Go, which offers Peugeots and Smart Cars for hire on a short term basis. Known as the Mu scheme, the system is in the process of expanding across Europe.

For just €16 an hour, customers can hire a 1 Series Compact from the luxury car manufacturer, and for €32 an hour you can drive away in a 7 Series Sedan BMW. The scheme offers consumers the opportunity to hire top class vehicles for special occasion such as weddings and birthdays at a reasonable rate, as well as providing clients visiting the city on business the freedom to get about in their own high quality vehicle.

by Anita KumarOctober 25, 20101 comment

Chauffeur warns of travellers’ cheques scam

A self-employed chauffeur from Aberdeen has come forward to warn other drivers about a fake travellers’ cheques scam which would have cost his bank thousands of pounds.

David Craig advertises his chauffeur services on online, and was contacted by a potential customer via the driving site. Using the name Kelvin Moore, the man stated he would like to employ Mr Craig as his chauffeur while he was visiting Aberdeen for research purposes from Nigeria.

The customer then offered to pay the 66-year-old chauffeur an advance payment of £300 and sent over three travellers’ cheques, worth €1,500. However Mr Craig became suspicious when the customer then asked for him to cash the cheques at a Western Union branch, take out his share for his chauffeur services, and transfer the rest of the money back to him to pay for “airport fees.”

Suspecting there was something amiss, the chauffeur took the cheques to the bank where they discovered they were indeed fake. However the bank believe the cheques stood a high chance of being cashed at a Western Union branch, and should this have happened, the bank would have been thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The chauffeur from Aberdeen decided to come forward with his story to warn other chauffeur who could well find themselves in a similar position.

The incident has been reported to the police. They believe Mr Craig could be one of thousands of people in the UK who are targeted by Nigerian gangs to have money sent out to them through the use of forged cheques.

by Andrew LloydOctober 15, 2010no comment

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