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Hot Hatch Special

By the CAR road test team 27 February 2009 09:00 An astonishing 24,524 CAR Online readers voted in our poll to find the greatest hot hatch of all time – and the results are now in. Below we count down the top 46 pocket rockets, hot hatches and GTIs, as voted for by you. Read our verdicts – and yours – below, download the wallpapers of the most affordable sporting models on the planet.

Ghosn wants to expand Daimler ties; calls alliance a ‘powerhouse'

With chatter swirling about potential expansion of the Renault-Nissan alliance, CEO Carlos Ghosn on Thursday put his support directly into expanding the automakers' relationship with Daimler AG. “We know we have a powerhouse,” Ghosn said in a media roundtable at the Paris auto show. “When you add the R&D of Renault, Nissan and Daimler, we are the largest in the industry,” Ghosn said.

Redesigned Ford Focus expected to get 40 mpg on the highway

The redesigned 2012 Ford Focus will get an estimated 40 mpg in highway driving with an all-aluminum 2.0-liter engine mated to a six-speed, dual-dry-clutch automatic transmission. The normally aspirated engine combines variable camshaft timing and high-pressure direct fuel injection to crank out 160 hp and 146 lb-ft of torque. That compares with 140 hp and 136 lb-ft from the aluminum 2.0-liter engine used in the current-generation Focus.