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2012 European Car of the Year shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2012 European Car of the Year award has been announced today. There were 35 cars on the original list, but the first round of voting from the 59 jury members (including CAR Magazine’s editor Phil McNamara, and our European correspondent Georg Kacher) has whittled the list down to just seven. They are… • Citroen DS5• Fiat Panda• Focus Focus• Opel (Vauxhall) Ampera/Chevrolet Volt• Range Rover Evoque• Toyota Yaris• Volkswagen Up There will now be a second round of test drives, before the European Car of the Year jurors submit their scores and a winner is announced live at the Geneva motor show on 5 March 2012.

Mugen Honda CR-Z Hybrid Video ahead of Goodwood

Mugen Honda CR-Z Hybrid playing on video We reported back in April that Honda had turned to Mugen to see if they could inject anything in to the CR-Z Hybrid that might make it even remotely appealing to a driver. The plan was to take the resulting Mugen Honda CR-Z to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, to see if the knowledgeable petrolheads that gravitate to the Goodwood Estate like moths to a Summer flame could find something to love in the Honda CR-Z, once it had had some Mugen fairy dust springled on it. We were a bit reluctant to expect anything much of the CR-Z even after Mugen had played, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the CR-Z would get a wider track, new suspension and brakes and a drop in weight thanks to some carbon fibre in the mix – most notably the carbon fibre bonnet.

Nissan sets prices for the 2012 Armada and Titan

Nissan is keeping prices essentially the same for the 2012 Armada and Titan lineups, the former with slightly higher stickers for the SL and Platinum models. The Nissan Armada SUV still comes in three trims for 2012. The rear-wheel-drive SV starts at $39,465 with shipping and at $45,065 for the all-wheel-drive version.