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Ford justifies its Vignale sub-brand (video)

The Ford Mondeo Vignale (pictured). Ford’s first Vignale-badged car Earlier this month, as the Frankfurt Motor Show approached, Ford revealed that it’s going back to a sales tactic they created in the 1970s – badge-engineering their cars with a coachbuilders name to create an upmarket sub-brand. Last time Ford played this game we had almost 30 years for the Ford Ghia, a range of Ford’s mainstream models that had all the toys as standard to try and create an appealing high-end option for buyers.

Nissan reveals Leaf Autonomous Drive prototype

What a difference a year makes. Last year Nissan exhibited a self-parking car at CEATEC, Japan's largest show for IT and electronics. Back then a Nissan NSC-2015 concept car, a Nissan Leaf with what seemed like a couple hundred pounds worth of computers in the trunk, was able to find a parking spot for itself under controlled conditions and park itself.

GM, Chrysler sales fall more than 40 percent; Ford, Honda also slip

The biggest automakers posted some of the sharpest U.S. sales declines in September as demand dropped to its lowest level since April in the aftermath of the cash-for-clunkers program. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 9.51 million units.