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GM's Ed Whitacre meets the press in Web chat

General Motors' new front man, Ed Whitacre, remains a bit of an elusive figure in the car world. But at the very least, the former telecom honcho who's now the leader of the nation's largest automaker does like cars. “Oh yes,” he answered in response to that question during a Web chat on Tuesday, one of his first interactions with the media so far in his tenure at the helm of GM.

New Subaru WRX revealed: Los Angeles Auto Show

New Subaru WRX revealed in LA The new Subaru WRX – the one that may or may not come to the UK – has been revealed today at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The WRX gets a new structure – and a four door saloon shape only – with a stiffer chassis, new electronic power steering and a new engine. The new engine in the WRX is a tweaked and fettled version of the 2.0 litre boxer engine from the Subaru Forseter, but in the WRX it gets 268bhp and 258lb/ft of torque, channelled through Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system to all four wheels, and enough to hit 60mph in 5.4 seconds The new WRX gets a choice of a manual ‘box with permanent 4WD whilst the WRX with the optional CVT box comes with a transfer clutch to move torque between axles.

2014 Vauxhall Meriva facelift gets new diesel engine

2014 Vauxhall Meriva facelift (pictured) gets new diesel engine It’s more than three years since the Vauxhall Meriva arrived – at Geneva in 2010 – as Vauxhall’s compact people carrier, so it’s time for a bit of a titivate and a few updates. The cosmetic makeover for the 2014 MY Meriva isn’t huge, but Vauxhall has thrown in a new grill and new headlights to fulfil the ‘new nose’ requirements of a facelift, there’s new alloys and new alloy options and daytime running lights. But the biggest change comes under the skin, with the old 1.7 litre turbo diesel being supplanted by the new 1.6 litre from the Zafira which offers 134bhp and 236lb/ft of torque.