Dacia prepares for its UK market D-Day

Renault may have halved its UK product range and taken a profit tumble in 2011, but its budget car subsidiary Dacia has been growing strongly with its range of no-nonsense value-for-money cars. The Dacia Duster SUV has been winning plaudits for its cheap-and-cheerful blend of practicality and value,and leads the UK market launch next month. Dacia: Renault's developing market brand heads West Dacia was founded by the Romanian government in 1966, and began with license-production of the Renault 8 (Dacia 1100) and Renault 12 (Dacia 1300).

Center stack is new high-stakes battleground; showdown with safety regulators looms

For auto suppliers and gadget companies eager to get a piece of the auto industry, the hottest chunk of vehicle real estate now is the center stack. That corridor of interior space, running from the driver's right hip up through the center of the cockpit to the bottom of the windshield, has become a California gold rush of opportunity. But it is less so for traditional suppliers of molded plastics, cables, levers, buttons and radios.

Aston Martin reveals the 2012 V12 Vantage GT3 race car

Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 It’s been mooted for quite a while, but now it’s confirmed – AM are to replace the DBR9S race car with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. Built on Aston Martin’s now rather ancient V/H architecture modular chassis, the Vantage GT3 also features Aston Martin’s one and only engine – the V12 originally built from a pair of Ford Mondeo engines – which in the GT3 version will produce something in the region of 600bhp and 516lb/ft of torque. What the GT3 also gets – as the photo above clearly demonstrates - are new aerodynamics, which makes the GT3 seem much more aggressive than the V12 Vantage on which it’s based.