Lottery winners must have car manufactures (UK)

According to the latest research, a new BMW is the second most popular purchase for lottery winners, with Range Rover coming in at number six. The most popular brand that millionaires head for is Mercedes-Benz, with the C-Class topping the choice table for lottery winners. Vauxhall – in at number four in the list – might rate as more of a surprise entry in the chart, though.

A new car is also one of the first things that a lottery millionaire buys, with 36% of jackpot winners heading to a car showroom before buying a new house or even splashing some cash on the high street.

In fact, 13% of jackpot winners have bought at least 10 cars since their win, while the average number of cars bought per winning household is 5.17.

Meantime, here are the top 10 brands for lottery winners:

1. Mercedes-Benz
2. BMW
3. Mini
4. Vauxhall
5. Land Rover
6. Range Rover
7. Ford
8. Porsche
9. Audi
10. Jaguar

BMW says lottery winners can contact their VIP sales service in London's Park Lane if they require a more discreet service. Equally, celebrities regularly walk in to their local dealership and receive the same service as a less high-profile customer. However, with either of these routes to a new car, haggling for a discount might be difficult if the salesman knows how much cash the customer has to spend.

Millionaire footballers can subscribe to services such as Platinum Players where 'trustworthy dealers' are listed.

Our own top 10 if we won the lottery:

For performance – Audi R8 or Porsche 911 Turbo or Nissan GT-R

For sitting in the back – Rolls-Royce Phantom or RR Ghost or Bentley Mulsanne or Hyundai Equus 5.0 V8

For the family – Land Rover Discovery 4 or Mercedes GL350 CDI or Kia Sorento or Volkswagen California or Nissan Murano or Mercedes E350 CDI or S350 CDI or Toyota Land Cruiser V8

For posing – Audi TT coupe or BMW Z4 or Citroen C3 Picasso or Nissan Cube/Juke or Bentley Continental GTC

For around town – Ford Ka or Toyota iQ or Kia Picanto or Fiat 500 or Hyundai i10 or Mini Cooper or Renault Twingo

For business – Jaguar XF or BMW 5 Series or Cadillac CTS or Citroen C5 or Kia Borrego/Mohave

For those spur of the moment getaways – Citroen C1 or 2011 Hyundai Sonata or Jaguar XK or Mercedes SLS AMG or Audi Allroad – A4/A6

For fun – Lamborghini Gallardo or Bugatti Veyron or Dacia Sandero

For green credentials – Smart ForTwo CDI or Toyota Prius or Lexus LS600h

For admiring – Bentley Brooklands or Azure or Citroen C6 or 1965 Ford Mustang

Citroen C-Cactus too radical for customers

The Citroen C-Cactus concept car will reach production in a different form, after customer clinics questioned the car’s back-to-basics interior.

Research has uncovered aspects of the car that potential buyers were not happy with. The lack of dashboard and the way its instruments are clustered around the steering column were said to be particularly off-putting. Citroen is also considering fitting electric windows instead of the concept’s wind-up units, which reduce complexity.

But Citroën boss Frederic Banzet said the production C-Cactus will still be “an essential car”. That means its feature and equipment content will be pared back to keep the price and weight down, enabling Citroën to produce a cheap, fuel-efficient car. Banzet also said that unlike the Logan - rival Renault’s stripped-down value car, which is not part of the Renault range - the C-Cactus will sit within the regular Citroen line-up. Judging by leaked photos, the car will stay true to its concept.

Citroen is also working on a C6 replacement but according to Banzet, it'll be “something different”. It will still be a flagship car, but of an as-yet-undisclosed format, though some kind of crossover seems possible. Banzet believes that Citroen needs a flagship model “to stretch our designers and engineers”, arguing that the process of its creation will benefit the development of the rest of the range.