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Danish driver gets new chance with Porsche

After being dropped from McClaren's Formula 1 team, Kevin Magnussen has been signed on as a test driver for Porsche in Barcelona next month.

Published: 29 October 2015 13:24 CET
Danish driver gets new chance with Porsche
Kevin Magnussen could be near of racing Le Mans. Photo: Kevin Magnussen Facebook
Danish driver Kevin Magnussen may have found a new home with Porsche. The 23-year-old Dane has been given a try-out at the LMP1 Porsche World Endurance Championship, November 10th and 11th in Barcelona. 
 
Magnussen is among the three new drivers that will try the Porsche 919 Hybrid car, joining Mitch Evans and Oliver Turvey. 
 
The trial could possibly earn him a place on Porsche's team at Le Mans, a competition where his father is involved with Corvette’s team. 
 
“Porsche has offered me this test because they possibly have an available seat in their third car at Le Mans next year. There are no guarantees but they are now looking at us drivers to be sure that they have the best, should they need one,” Magnussen told Jyllands-Posten.
 
 
The Dane is currently looking for a new racing home after being dropped by his former team, McLaren-Honda.
 
 

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CAR

This is the Swedes’ favourite car model (hint: it’s not a Volvo)

Sales of new cars in Sweden rose 7.9 percent last year, according to fresh figures. And for the first time in more than five decades, the car topping the list of most-sold models is not a Volvo.

Published: 2 January 2017 12:36 CET
This is the Swedes' favourite car model (hint: it's not a Volvo)
A Volkswagen Golf Alltrack. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

A total of 372,296 new cars were registered in 2016, said Swedish automakers' association Bil Sweden. Truck sales rose by a whopping 15.3 percent, with 58,174 new trucks sold last year.

Perhaps surprisingly, the most popular model was not the iconic Swedish car Volvo, but rather a German Volkswagen. Its Golf model was Sweden's most sold car, racking up 22,084 sales.

It is the first time in 54 years a brand other than Volvo tops the list in Volvo's birth country. In 1962 Volkswagen's famous 'Beetle' was the most sold car in Sweden.

The last of the Volvo V70, Sweden's best-selling car for two decades prior to last year, rolled off the conveyor belt earlier this year and it seems the newer V90 has not yet found its place in Swedish hearts.

READ ALSO: Volvo bids farewell to Sweden's favourite car

However, it was not far behind. Volvo sold 21,321 of its V70/XC70/S90/V90, which are counted as one model in Bil Sweden's statistics, in 2016, second behind Volkswagen Golf. The company, which is owned by Chinese Geely, also held on to the largest market share, with four of its models in the top-ten.

The sale of so called 'super green cars' – vehicles with less than 50g/km carbon dioxide emissions – rose by 51 percent last year compared to 2015.

“Our forecast is that around 18,000 new super green cars will be registered in 2017, which represents a share of five percent of the total market,” said Bil Sweden's CEO Bertil Moldén.

In France meanwhile, sales of new cars breached the symbolic two-million threshold for the first time since 2011, according to the French automakers' association CCFA.

The most popular car models in 2016 (Bil Sweden)

1. VW Golf
2. Volvo V70II, S/V90N
3. Volvo S/V60
4. Volvo XC60
5. VW Passat
6. Volvo V40N
7. Toyota Auris
8. VW Polo
9. Kia Cee'd
10. Skoda Octavia