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Infiniti's new M and hybrids at Geneva motor show

Infiniti, Nissan’s upmarket wing, can finally have a serious stab at the European luxury car market after launching its Renault-based turbodiesel V6. Its pleasingly idiosyncratic range of cars – ultra modern, finely crafted and mostly fun to drive – have been hamstrung in the showrooms by a range of V6 and V8 petrol engines which have been designed for customers in Los Angeles or Boston, not London or Berlin. Of a diesel, there has been no sign.

Alluring Alfa Romeo falls far short of its promise

Few names can match the allure of Alfa Romeo. The sporty Italian brand is all about swooping lines, intoxicating engine noise, nimble road manners and the sexiest grille around. Alfa Romeo should be a bright Italian alternative to, say, Audi that stands out from the silver-gray herd of German luxury machines.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.