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News watch December 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Monday 31 December 2012• Despite reports earlier this month that shareholders valued Mercedes-Benz at half that of its luxury rival BMW, Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche has remained bullish about his ambitious targets for the carmaker's growth. 'I am confident that we will be ahead of our rivals by 2020 at the latest,' he told German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung in an interview.

Walt Arfons: 1916-2013

No one seemed to know why the two brothers stopped talking, but their resulting rivalry led to some of the fastest cars ever built, two of which went more than 600 mph. Walt Arfons battled his half-brother Art on the Bonneville Salt Flats and at dragstrips across the country, but the pair rarely spoke over the course of one of the longest and most intense motorsport rivalries ever. Walt and Art started out working together, building a three-wheeled dragster in their native rural Ohio in 1952.

Porsche 918 Spyder starts at $845,000

Porsche has officially put the 918 Spyder on sale for a breathtaking MSRP of $845,000. And, as an incentive to those who order the supercar, Porsche also is offering the opportunity to buy a limited-edition 911 Turbo S, called the 918 Spyder Edition. It will cost $161,650 for the coupe and $173,050 for the convertible.