Toyota is revising the Rav4 range by dropping the entry-level T2 and adding a new top-of-the-range T5.

The T5 includes heated front seats, satellite navigation, cruise control, automatically dipping rear view mirror, climate control and leather upholstery. All models are now fitted with front and rear electric windows (front only on three-door models), air conditioning, an electric tilt and slide sunroof (five-door models only), CD player, leather steering wheel and gear knob, front fog lamps and 16-inch alloy wheels.

Prices range from £17,245 for the T3 2.0 petrol three door to £24,445 for the T5 2.0 diesel 5 door.

MG Rover has unveiled a concept for an MGTF-based coupe, fitted with a 200 bhp version of the 2.5 V6 engine from the Rover 75. According to MG Rover, "Many of the 'warmer climate' markets prefer sports cars to have an integrated, coupe style and air conditioning to cope with high summer temperatures. Also, recent models like the Audi TT have shown that hardtops can be highly popular for customers who prefer the style of a fixed-head coupe." Possibly so, but the vast majority of MG Rover's sales are in the UK and Britain has moved decisively away from coupes to cabrios over the last 10 years - so they must have very high hopes for Southern Europe.

Peter Stevens, MG's design director said: "We would love to expand the MG TF range with a high-performance MG GT which has inspiring handling, practicality and great looks."

Nissan has agreed to pay an additional £37 million to the British Inland Revenue to settle a long-running investigation.

The tax authorities are convinced that Japanese manufacturers in Britain are using transfer pricing to avoid paying tax in this country. In essence, the allegation is that cars made in Britain are being sold artificially cheaply to overseas divisions of the Japanese corporations. By selling them cheaply, it is alleged, the British operations declare a loss which means no UK tax, while the profit can be declared in jurisdictions with lower corporate tax rates.

The Revenue is now targeting Honda and Toyota, both of which vehemently deny any wrongdoing. However, the Revenue is now feeling confident, having forced Nissan to pay up. The Revenue's success has certainly been a long time coming. The UK authorities have been examining both European and Japanese subsidiaries for at least 15 years but, as far as we know, this is the first major success.

The Toyota Prius has won the accolade 'Car of The Year 2005', scoring a clear win over the second-placed Citroen C4 and the third-placed Ford Focus. This is Toyota's second win - the first being for the Yaris - and they are still the only Japanese company to have won the award.

The Car of the Year Jury is made up of 58 senior journalists from 22 European countries. Their object is to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in the past 12 months. Jurors vote twice, first to select a short-list of seven from the new cars launched in Europe - 32 this year - then once again, to choose a single winner.

The Toyota Prius is the cleanest family car on sale with an emissions figure of just 104g/km; it combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor. At speeds of up to 30mph the Prius can run on its electric motor alone making it a zero emissions vehicle in city traffic and when stationary. At higher speeds or when brisk acceleration is needed the petrol engine cuts in to work with the electric motor and battery. During deceleration and braking, the electric motor operates as a generator to help recover energy that would otherwise be wasted and restore the charge of the battery - this is known as regenerative braking.

  Study Faults Carmakers for Whiplash

Carmakers are failing to equip most models sold in the United States with seats and head restraints that provide good protection against neck injuries in rear-end crashes, according to a new insurance industry study.

The study, released on Sunday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said only eight of 73 seat and head restraint combinations it tested got a "good" rating for whiplash prevention, while 16 others were rated "acceptable."

Nineteen earned only "marginal" ratings and 30 got "poor."

Among the seat-head restraint systems that were tested, good ratings were earned by Volvo's S40, S60 and S80 cars and Saab's 9-2X and 9-3 models. The Swedish automakers, long known for putting a premium on safety, are owned by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., respectively.

The Jaguar S-Type, Subaru Impreza and some of Volkswagen AG's New Beetle cars also earned top scores.

In the rear impact tests, which simulate a stationary car being struck by a vehicle of the same weight at 20 miles per hour, the seat-head restraint on Toyota Motor Corp.'s 2004 model Corolla also rated good. But the Corolla's overall rating dropped to "acceptable" because of the head restraint's poor positioning.

Cars that earned poor overall ratings ran across all segments from the 2005 model Corolla and the Toyota Camry -- America's best-selling car -- to the Cadillac CTS and BMW 3 Series.

"It's obvious that some automakers are doing a better job than others of designing seats and head restraints to protect their customers' necks in rear crashes," Adrian Lund, the Insurance Institute's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

He added that many car models still have "poor or marginal geometry," meaning head restraints that are not closely enough positioned behind an occupant's head.

The Insurance Institute said 24 seats, two-thirds of them in GM cars, were not tested at all because of "inadequate head restraint geometry."

Neck injuries in rear-end crashes are rarely life-threatening, especially when they occur at low to moderate speeds. But the Insurance Institute said they cost at least $7 billion (3.77 billion pounds) in U.S. insurance claims per year.

  Rolls-Royce to Build New Cabrio

German premium carmaker BMW's Rolls-Royce brand will unveil a new cabrio model based on its Phantom in 2007, the U.K.-based maker of ultra-luxury limousines says.

The two-door, four-seat convertible to be hand-built at the brand's Goodwood plant will be a slightly smaller version of the concept car 100EX that premiered at this year's Geneva car show.

The Phantom's 6.75 litre, V12 engine will power the car, which will use a similar aluminium space-frame chassis technology employed by Rolls-Royce's only other model.

"Convertible motor cars have always played a central part in the 100-year history of Rolls-Royce, and I am delighted that we can take this tradition forward with a cutting-edge, 21st century design," the brand's sales and marketing director, Howard Mosher, said in a statement.

Despite its glamorous history, Rolls-Royce has struggled of late. The Phantom has thus far fallen considerably short of its sales target for 2004 and has just lost its chief executive after only a few months on the job.

Karl-Heinz Kalbfell left to head up Fiat Auto's sporty premium brand Alfa Romeo starting next year.