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VW Beetle to get bigger seat

TThe successor to the New Beetle will arrive in 2012 with more space in the back seat and better packaging, said Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America. Speaking at a press event in Germany, he also said the next generation of the Beetle will be "more of a halo car" for the Volkswagen brand. And Jacoby said he expects the next Beetle to achieve higher sales.

Ford Escort returns – for China: Shanghai Motor Show

The Ford Escort Concept has been built by Ford with the aim of taking a sizeable chunk of China’s compact saloon market – estimated at 5.5 million sales a year – and looks remarkably production viable and far from ‘budget’. Escort is a badge China knows – there are plenty of old Escorts floating around Chinese roads – so it’s a sensible move by Ford to revive a badge that already resonates as a compact, affordable saloon with Chinese car buyers. This new Escort gets a proper version of Ford’s latest design language – including the Aston Martin grill – and has good lines and strong detail including jeweled headlights with the lucky Chinese ’8′ discernible ; it looks entirely cohesive and nothing like a Focus with a boot grafted on.

Rethinking Scion: Quirky goes mainstream so brand adapts with a sporty coupe, hip music

If Toyota's Scion youth brand had stuck to its original premise, the third generation of the boxy xB would be rolling into showrooms today. As envisioned by Toyota, Scion products would be quirky, uber-cool and not around long enough to get stale. Its first-edition products were replaced after just four years.