Peugeot 207 Economique – the 99g car

The Peugeot 207 Economique - guess what its CO2 is?! As you may well have guessed, this is another car maker rolling out the usual low rolling resistance, lowered suspension, gear-change-light, steel wheels version of their regular runaround to create a car that magically dips below 100g/km CO2. Of course it’s completely disingenuous, because unless you drive like you’re carrying the last live eggs of the Dodo all the time you won’t get the CO2 levels quoted, and nor will you get the headline economy.

V6s now trump V8s in Ford F-150

For the first time since 1985, Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 pickups equipped with V6 engines are outselling those with V8 engines. And Ford is struggling to keep up with demand for the V6s. Dealers are clamoring for Ford to ramp up production of the 3.5-liter direct-injection turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine because of its popularity.

First Fiat 500s will have stick shifts

The 2012 Fiat 500 , heading to U.S. dealerships later than first expected, is enduring another hiccup: The first units arriving in dealerships in late February will have manual transmissions, the company said. Moreover, only about 20 percent of the 130 Fiat dealerships will be open when those first cars arrive, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America, at the Detroit auto show last week.