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Acura finds sales, still seeks luxury identity

As Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW battle for luxury brand sales leadership this year, Acura has been flying below the radar -- as usual. Honda's upscale division has had a solid year. Sales are up 24 percent over 2009, outpacing the gains made by luxury's big 3.

BMW Active Tourer to debut at Geneva 2014 as BMW 2 Series GT

The BMW Concept Active Tourer will arrive as the BMW 2 Series GT BMW’s new platform for the new MINI isn’t just about providing a front wheel drive platform for MINI, but it will also be put to use in a new range of BMW FWD vehicles. That was previewed by the BMW Active Tourer Concept at the Paris Motor Show in 2012 (and again with the Active Tourer Outdoor Concept in the summer) and now the Active Tourer is heading in to production as the BMW 2 Series GT. The new 2 Series GT is the BMW answer to the Mercedes B Class, a compact MPV designed for moving people and their stuff around town, and Auto Express have learnt it will arrive at a Motor Show ‘Early in 2014′ (which we assume will be Geneva in March) as a production model ahead of a launch later in 2014.

2013 Nissan GT-R gets a tweak

Nissan has had a play with the GT-R for 2013 with suspension upgrades, sharper responses and a more comfortable ride. On the performance front, the 2013 model year Nissan GT-R gets a set of new high-output injectors which give more concise control to fuel for better mid range and high rev response, a new relief valve for the turbocharger bypass cuts the decrease of pressure to sustain response and a new oil pan baffle helps maintain oil pressure. On the handling front Nissan has revised dampers, springs and the front anti-roll bar to lower the centre of gravity, new cam bolts on the front suspension improve accuracy and the torque carrying capacity of the driveshaft to hub bearings has been increased to you can attack a track more reliably.