Garmin Aera 510 Touchscreen on 2040-parts.com

How well is Ferrari really doing? Results analysed

Ferrari seems to be holding up well in the global recession, according to figures announced this week. Its market share is up, consolidated revenues fell just 7% in 2009 and overall operating profit stood at a juicy €245m. Not a bad performance in the biggest economic downturn for generations.Ferrari operates in the upper echelons of the premium sports car market: serious stuff with at least 450bhp and a minimum €140,000 price tag.

New smart fortwo electric drive enters production

Mercedes has announced that the third generation 2012 smart fortwo electric drive has gone in to production. Mercedes may, very sensibly, be pursuing hydrogen fuel cells as the real future of motoring but they still have an eye on electric cars as urban runarounds. That urban EV takes shape as the Smart EV, and the third generation smart fortwo ED (electric drive) debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March and has now gone in to production.

Citroen C4 Aircross SUV (2012) first pictures

Citroen has teamed up with Mitsubishi again for its new compact SUV. The new Citroen C4 Aircross is based on Mitsu's ASX crossover and goes on UK sale in the second half of 2012. Citroen and Mitsubishi has form here; they collaborated on the C-Crosser (based on the Outlander) and the C-Zero electric car.