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News watch March 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Friday 30 March 2012• Fiat is suffering from its decision to suspend new product innovation during the recession, argues ANE. It is losing ground on account of delays to its Punto range, which won't be replaced until 2014, and the ageing Bravo, which was launched in 2007 and has no successor in sight (Automotive News Europe)• Mercedes plans to build the new four-door coupe spun off the A- and B-class architecture at its new Hungarian factory (Automotive News Europe)• Opel denies rumours it may sell the Eisenach factory in east Germany where it builds the Corsa supermini (Automotive News Europe)• Mercedes is cutting the time it takes to build a car from 43 hours in 2008 to nearer 30 hours by 2015, according to production boss Wolfgang Bernhard.

Former Volvo design boss Steve Mattin to join Russia's Lada

Former Volvo Cars design chief Steve Mattin will head design at the Russian brand Lada. Mattin will start at the Russian automaker on Oct. 1, Lada's owner AvtoVAZ told Automotive News Europe in an email.

New BMW 4 Series: Official – Full specs, prices and photos

The new 2014 BMW 4 Series (pictured) has been revealed ahaed of a Frankfurt debut We had the arrival of the new BMW 4 Series as a concept back in  December, but this afternoon BMW has revealed details of the production 4 Series ahead of a debut at Frankfurt in September. Looking little changed from the concept, the new 4 Series – a replacement for the old 3 Series Coupe – sits on the same basic platform as the new 3 Series but with wider track and lower suspension. A bit longer, a bit wider and a bit lower than the old 3 Series Coupe, the new 4 Series also gets a longer wheelbase – a bit more room in the back – and weight rises a bit too.