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Porsche Macan will sell 75,000 a year

The Porsche Macan – Porsche’s more compact SUV, based on the Audi Q5 – looks set to sell at a rate of 75,000 cars a year. The new Porsche Macan - the Porsche Cajun as was -  already looked set to take Porsche sales to another level with projected sales of 45,000 a year from 2013, but it looks like that ambitious target is going to be exceeded. German weekly WirtschaftsWoche is reporting that Porsche’s procurement boss, Uwe-Karsten Staedter, has put Porsche suppliers on notice that they are expecting to sell 75,000 Macans a year by the end of 2013 – an increase of 2/3rds on the original sales predictions.

World Car Design of the Year 2014 award shortlist revealed

The BMW i3 and Volkswagen XL1 are amongst the contenders for the World Car Design of the Year award as the top 10 finalists in each category of the tenth annual World Car Awards are announced. The full shortlist of nominees for the 2014 World Car Design of the Year Award are: BMW i3; Cadillac CTS; Citröen C4 Picasso; Lexus IS; Mazda3; Mercedes-Benz C-Class; Volkswagen XLR1; Cadillac ELR; Range Rover Sport and Volkswagen XL1. As in previous years for the World Car Design of the Year award, a panel of five design experts reviews all candidates before writing up recommendations for the jury of 69 international automotive journalists to consider.

Fiat 500 gets Stop-Start

Flavour of the month, stop-start, and here’s another to add to the list. The Fiat 500 gets Start&Stop (I’ve lost count of the different monikers) as an option on the 1.2 Lounge, using Bosch technology to beef up the system to make it reliable. The Stop/Start also gets another Fiat moniker – Blue&Me – which gives the driver EcoDrive to aid emissions and adds hands-free phone and an entertainment system.