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Ford recalls minivans, SUV

Ford is recalling nearly half a million vehicles to fix defects that can cause fires or loss of power. About 205,800 copies of the Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivan from the 2004 and 2005 model years are being recalled, because torque-converter output shafts in the transaxle might fail and cause power loss. Ford is also recalling 244,530 Escape SUVs from the 2001 and 2002 model years, which might have brake-fluid leaks that can cause corrosion and fire.

Jaguar F-Type DOES mean next Jaguar XK heading upmarket

Ian Callum has said that the new Jaguar F-Type will give Jaguar the opportunity to push the next generation Jaguar XK upmarket. Autocar has been chatting with Jaguar’s design guru, Ian Callum, who has said pretty much what we said in September, namely that the F-Type’s arrival will allow the next XK to be ‘More special than a GT’. Ian also speculates that the next XK could grow in size too to be a bit more than a 2+2, but it seems pretty clear that Jaguar will be looking to take the next XK firmly in to territory currently held by cars like the Aston Martin DB9 and Vanquish.

Upcoming Volvo XC90 gets new safety tech

The Volvo XC90 has been with us for 10 years now -- a long time indeed when it comes to product life cycles of comparable upmarket SUVs. The stylish sport utility was a popular seller in North America for a good part of that decade, and for a while was even offered with a 4.4 liter V8 engine developed by Yamaha and shared with the second-gen S80 (a first for a Volvo passenger car). But if there's one thing Volvo is known for, it's not V8 engines -- it's safety.