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Lorenzo Ramaciotti to head Chrysler and Lancia design

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, current head of design at Fiat Group, has been tasked with leading the design of future Chrysler and Lancia products in a bid to more than double the sales figures of the newly collaborated brands. The 63-year-old former Pininfarina designer – credited to some of the most beautiful Italian machinery of the modern era – has been asked by Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler Group LLC, to create a common styling language for the two brands that wouldn't look out of place in Detroit or Milan. Ramaciotti has made it clear that badge-engineering isn't going to be the future for the two brands and is hoping to inject a unique, but global flavor, into the two brands.

Rumormill: Aston Martin Cygnet could get V12

A few years ago, if you would have asked us about 500-hp city cars, we would have said, “Awesome, but never going to happen.” We were proven wrong with last year's Nissan Juke-R and we may be proven wrong again with a V12-powered Aston Martin Cygnet. That's right, Autocar reports that Aston is studying the feasibility of taking the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet and shoehorning the V12 from its Vantage and DB9 models. Aston says it could fit the V12 in the tiny car's engine bay without major modifications.

General Motors and Ford load up on small cars for bigger profits

Ford has no qualms about charging nearly $23,000 for a fully loaded 2011 Fiesta, which is smaller than the Focus. The Fiesta sedan, which goes on sale this summer, starts at $13,995, including shipping. The Fiesta, with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and a six-speed transmission, gets 40 mpg on the highway.