Last Last week I visited the Audi Brussels plant, and I wish You together with Audi all the best for 2011...

The last weeks of the year are of course the times for press lunches, dinners and receptions, and we attended quite a few.

Particularly the receptions of the Fiat Group and Toyota warranted our attention, and we will report about them in the coming days.

The run-up to the Brussels Car Show 2011 is also of interest, and you can read our report on the following pages. We give you here also the hyperlink to our report of the press conference by FEBIAC of next years' show, to be held between 15 and 23 January 2011.

Emilio Herrera, Deputy Market General Manager of Fiat Group Automobiles Belux at the Brussels Press conference ...

The Fiat Group Press Conference was held at the premises of the Fiat 500 House at the Avenue de la Toison d'Or. Suffice to say that the 500 House will be extensively refurbished the coming weeks, and of course we will report about it. We will also report on the cars the Fiat group will be presenting on the Brussels Salon.

Toyota organized their press conference at Brussels Kart, and indeed a kart race was held between the journalists, with your servant valiantly participating.

The recent winter days made testing cars a bit more difficult, but despite all these snowy roads, we drove some quite exciting cars, like the Abarth 500C, the Abarth Punto Evo and the Polo GTI with the 7 speed transmission. We were impressed by the excellent winter road behaviour and handling of these powerful machines, which remained perfectly driveable even under the most icy road conditions.

One of the main events this month was also being part of the jury for electing the 4 x 4 of the Year 2010, by 4 x 4 PLUS Magazine. Click here to see the report.

Your servant visited also the Audi factory in Brussels , where the A1's are built for the world. I could not resist taking some photographs of the magnificent showroom of the factory, and together with Audi, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

In the coming year, do not hesitate to visit the factory, and see how Audi quality is being built. From April on next year, I might personally show you around the premises!

Hans Knol ten Bensel