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New Mercedes C-Class UK pricing & specs revealed – costs from £26,855

The 2014 Mercedes C-Class (pictured) costs from £26,855 The new Mercedes C-Class for 2014 was revealed in December – looking like a proper baby S-Class – and now we get the specifications and prices for the UK market ahead of its arrival in Mercedes showrooms. To start, there will be just two engines available – 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol in the C200 and 2.1 litre four-cylinder diesel in the C220 BlueTec – and a choice of six-speed manual and 7-speed auto boxes and three trim levels – SE, Sport and AMG Line. Mercedes say the new C-Class will be the best equipped in its sector, and all models come with a touchpad to control the Infotainment functions, Climate, Media Interface and Artico upholstery.

Daimler-Renault alliance to delay new Smart and Twingo models, report says

Renault SA and Daimler AG, who are sharing technology to build the new Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo cars, will delay the introduction of the models by a year, according to a French newspaper. The cars will now come to market in 2014 instead of 2013, La Tribune said, citing industry sources. The next ForTwo and the third-generation Twingo will be built on Renault's A platform, with ForTwo production continuing at Smart's plant in Hambach, France, and Twingo output at Renault's Novo Mesto factory in Slovenia.

Nissan Leaf with advanced-driver assist to begin public road tests in Japan

Nissan is about to begin testing advanced driver-assist systems in the real world, and a new Nissan Leaf is serving as the test bed for these technologies. This is all a part of Nissan's development of Autonomous Drive, a goal to achieve virtually zero fatalities in accidents involving its vehicles by the year 2020. Autonomous Drive can be said to be a further development of Nissan's Safety Shield, a system that has a 360-degree view around the vehicle that scans for risks and provides warnings to the driver, intervening automatically if necessary.