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Chevy Cruze Diesel: As torquey as a classic Camaro?

From the Department Of Silly Press Releases comes this missive from deep within the bowels of the Renaissance Center, Junior Wool-Pulling Division, located next to the Quizno's. "Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel Delivers Classic Muscle Car Torque," it reads, and while torque is the Great Equalizer of the continued championing of the diesel engine, comparing it to the sturm und drang of launching a 1972 Camaro Z28 from the parking lot of the Hendersonville, Tenn., Shoney's is tantamount to the sort of blasphemy that gets people excommunicated. For the record, the Chevrolet Cruze Diesel's 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine produces 264 lb-ft of torque, more than the Volkswagen Jetta TDI's at 236 lb-ft.

Not every Chrysler dealer gets to sell SRT Viper

The redesigned 2013 SRT Viper will be sold at about one in five Chrysler Group dealerships, says Ralph Gilles, head of the high-performance SRT brand. To qualify for the sports car, dealerships will have to train staff, buy special tools and improve their facilities. "We're going to open it up to any dealer who can put the money forward and the training, but it's going to be pretty difficult to hit all of those things," Gilles said during a broadcast interview with journalists in Detroit this month.

Peter Stevens and Julian Thomson lead a discussion on the past, present and future of car design

As part of its sponsorship of London's Clerkenwell Design Week, Jaguar and the Royal College of Art brought together three generations of the design school to discuss the past, present and possible future of car design. Held in a suitably grimy warehouse in east London – with the sculpture by RCA students Ewan Gallimore and Claire Mille's we showed you earlier this week sat outside – Professor Dale Harrow, dean of the School of Design and head of its Vehicle Design program introduced Professor Peter Stevens, Julian Thomson, Jaguar's advanced design director and Alexandra Palmowski project designer advanced colour and material at Jaguar took the audience through their careers. Charismatic as ever, Peter Stevens kicked off proceedings that moved chronologically through the decades by explaining how he first became interested in "the art if car design, allied to the science of how they work" through his artistic parents and uncle – journalist and motoring adventurer – Denis Jenkinson during the 1950s and 60s.