1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 Volkswagen Karmann-ghia Beetle Paint Chips (r-m) on 2040-parts.com

Fiesta grabs Women's World Car of the Year prize

THE FORD FIESTA 1.0 Ecoboost has been crowned the Women’s World Car of the Year 2013. A panel of 18 women judged the car on factors such as colour, sex appeal and ease of driving. Beating off competition from Audi and Range Rover, the Fiesta was praised by the all-women panel and the awards chairman Sandy Myhre said: ‘It was clear from the outset the Fiesta struck a chord with our panel of women as it has features which clearly chime with the needs of female drivers.’ Barb Samardzich, chief operating officer, Ford of Europe, said: ‘The success of the new Fiesta, both in terms of this award and impressive sales, has been achieved with a car which is sharp looking, better connected and even more fuel efficient and fun-to-drive.’

Meet the Autoweek Best of the Best winners

Another year and another few hundred new cars and trucks have driven through the Autoweek garage for editorial evaluation. To what end? Well, other than giving you our unvarnished opinions, it really comes down to this—when we present the annual Autoweek Best of the Best/Car and Best of the Best/Truck awards.

Lexus IS 250C launches

The Lexus IS 250C launched in Japan this week - and will reach the UK in July The IS Convertible comes in two flavours – the Lexus IS250 C and the 350C – although the initial launch is just the IS 250C. The IS 350C will launch later in the year. Lexus has been working on the IS Convertible for some time, and is aiming it straight in the sites of similar offerings from both BMW and Audi.