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Now the Germans say no to Volvo

As we’ve reported in the last few weeks, Ford has been trying its best to offload Volvo, the last of its ‘Prestige’ Euro marques. The Chinese looked to be the best bet, but it seems that that is going nowhere at the moment (the Chinese are probably waiting for Ford to get in to an even deeper mess with the hope of picking up Volvo for peanuts) and now its seems that Ford’s fire-sale has drawn more blanks. Now the Germans turn down the chance to own Volvo Der Spiegel reports that Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) boss Dieter Zetsche has revealed that Daimler has turned down the chance to buy Volvo, and has also revealed that BMW has had a good look, and reached the same decision.

GM expands brake-override safety feature

General Motors is significantly expanding the use of a brake-override safety feature in its cars through the end of 2012. GM announced on Monday that it will add the software, which it also calls “enhanced smart-pedal technology,” in all of its passenger cars with automatic transmissions and electronic throttle control. The change will reduce power to the engine when both the throttle and brakes are pressed at the same time.

MINI Paceman: First production car photo leaks

With the production version of the MINI Paceman due to debut at Paris 2012 we have the first leaked photo of MINI’s Evoque challenger. It could be argued that the Range Rover Evoque has created a new premium SUV niche all for itself, but that’s not going to stop MINI going after a piece of the action. So the MINI Paceman Concept from the 2011 Detroit Motor Show is going in to production as the stylish coupe version of the MINI Countryman, and MINI has been busy teasing it ahead of the Paris reveal.