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News watch May 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Friday 1 June 2012• Peugeot-Citoren has been hit hardest by a 17% drop in overall domestic sales during May. PSA saw a 28% fall in sales, with Renault suffering a 14% decline, and Fiat 21%.

First Sight: Mercedes-Benz A-Class

The first generation A-Class was the first front wheel drive passenger car from Mercedes-Benz and its first compact hatchback. Its revolutionary packaging and infamous encounter with an elk made a big impact in 1997, and since then over a million have been sold. Specification The new A-Class maintains its predecessor's innovative sandwich floor concept, where the powertrain moves under the passenger cell in the event of a big frontal impact and thus enables a longer cabin for the length of footprint.

Trouble at Bertone

It was hoped that Bertone would be exhibiting its latest concept, the B.A.T.11, in Geneva this year, a design inspired by the B.A.T.5., B.A.T.7 and B.A.T.9 concepts developed between 1953 and 1955. The car is based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. But after receiving a release from Stile Bertone announcing the prototype on February 13, the company's communications department sent through another email stating that it would not, in fact, be attending the show this year.