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Enthusiast demand forces Aston’s hand: V12 Vantage coming America

Thanks to enthusiasts, the most powerful road-going Aston Martin ever is coming to the United States. The British sports-car maker confirmed on Friday that the V12 Vantage--packing 510 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque--will be sold in North and South America. This is a reversal from a year ago, when Aston tantalizingly showed off the car and promptly said it wasn’t coming here.

BMW ready to shift small coupes, convertibles to even-number nameplates

Reports in Europe say that BMW is planning a shake-up in the naming strategy for its smaller coupes and convertibles, as well as planning to shift its 1-series cars onto a front-drive platform. The nameplate shake-up will have coupe and convertible variants of the 1-series become the 2-series, while coupe and convertible variants of the 3-series will become the 4-series. The changeover is expected to start in 2013, according to a report on the Web site of Car magazine.

Peugeot 308 RC Z – getting close

Peugeot 308 RC-Z caught testing (click for bigger picture) The 308 RC-Z is based on the same platform as the 308 and the Citroen C4 (which also underpins the new Citroen DS3). Power is likely to come from a choice of 1.6 litre turbos – 220bhp or 150bhp. Also likely to be on offer is an oil-burner.