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First Fiat 500s will have stick shifts

The 2012 Fiat 500 , heading to U.S. dealerships later than first expected, is enduring another hiccup: The first units arriving in dealerships in late February will have manual transmissions, the company said. Moreover, only about 20 percent of the 130 Fiat dealerships will be open when those first cars arrive, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America, at the Detroit auto show last week.

Skip Barber Racing School rolls back prices

Skip Barber Racing School is turning back the clock to 2001, when gasoline cost less than $2 a gallon and a three-day racing school cost just $3,000. All 12 locations will move to the new pricing scheme temporarily, to give more drivers a chance to get behind the wheel and do some performance driving. Skip Barber has been teaching people to race for more than 30 years.

Car insurance premiums 'too high'

CAR INSURANCE premiums are too high and should be reduced through far-reaching reforms, the competition watchdog said today. The Competition Commission believes that too many drivers are footing the bill for unnecessary costs incurred during the claims process following an accident. These costs are initially borne by the insurers of at-fault drivers, but they feed through into increased insurance premiums for all drivers.