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Autoweek's Best of the Best winners announced

Today, Autoweek announced the winners of our yearly Best of the Best competition with the Porsche Boxster S and Mercedes-Benz GL taking top honors. Presenting the awards, editor Wes Raynal said, “It was a tough call to make this year with so many incredible cars and trucks that debuted. After a year of evaluating everything on the market, the Porsche Boxster S and Mercedes-Benz GL rose to the top, really earning these two awards.” For Best of the Best awards, the Autoweek editors considered publicly available, all-new or substantially new 2013 model cars and trucks.

Italian firm buys stake in Aston Martin

The former owner of Italian motorcycle maker Ducati has bought a 37.5-percent stake in financially strapped British car maker Aston Martin. The move means future Astons could use modern drivelines and electric architectures from Mercedes-Benz's AMG division, insiders with knowledge of the deal suggest. Private equity fund Investindustrial has signed a memorandum of understanding with current Aston Martin owner Investment Dar of Kuwait that will see it pay $240 million (150 million pounds) for the ownership stake.

Volvo XC60 Plug-in Hybrid concept car (2012) first pics

Volvo will showcase its latest plug-in hybrid technology in the new 2012 XC60 Plug-in Hybrid concept car at next week's Detroit auto show. The Swedes have been developing a range of plug-in hybrid cars, using both petrol and diesel. The hybridised V60 which goes on sale in Europe later in 2012 uses diesel, whereas the new SUV drinks from the green pump.