Well...after a busy few Olympic weeks I've taken some time this week to reflect on the success of London 2012 and all I've been reading about is British tears of pride and tens of thousands of people feeling overemotional about the best event held in London ever.

Now while I may sound remiss, and while I'm not keen on too much emotion myself, there is a serious point to be made about the Olympics - as well as bringing a few great sporting weeks, the Games really have brought a sense of pride to the nation - something we could well do with amidst constant reports of further recession and unemployment.

I've been so focused on the Olympics though I've lost track of what's going on in the automotive universe, and was delighted this week to read some good news.

Firstly, that car output rose for the 13th consecutive month - it was up 22.2% in July, that's 15.1% for the year-to-date. UK plants manufactured 119,882 cars in July and 94,490 units were exported which leaves 25,392 units left to be registered here - not bad eh?

I also heard some great news about Jaguar Land Rover this week which, let's face it, is the latest in a long line of positives from the manufacturer.

JLR has switched to 24 hour manufacturing at Halewood for the first time in its 50 year history, and this seems to be indicative of the attractiveness of UK built vehicles - like the new Evoque, which has sold a splendid 88,000 vehicles since launch.

I must say all this wonderful automotive news makes me feel quite warm and fuzzy - a nice feeling for a Friday I think you'll agree.

Have a great weekend.
The Spoiler