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Happy New Year! Our Top 12 Car News stories of 2012 – month by month

Happy New Year to one and all from all of us here at Cars UK. We take a look back at the top car news story on Cars UK for every month of 2012. As it’s New Years Day 2013, it seems the right time to take a look back at the top car news stories of 2012.

Vauxhall DROPS Lifetime Warranty – quietly during the Paris Motor Show news rush

Vauxhall DROPS Lifetime Warranty Vauxhall trumpeted the arrival of a Lifetime Warranty for all their new cars 4 years ago, a move that was designed to show confidence in their cars and tackle the substantial warranties on new cars offered by companies like Hyundai and Kia. But now, in a lesson doubtless learned from ‘bad news’ burying in politics, Vauxhall has revealed they’re dropping the Lifetime Warranty from 2015, no doubt hoping it won’t make headlines in the middle of the news rush from the Paris Motor Show. So now, instead of a lifetime warranty (which was really only for 100,000 miles) buyers of new Vauxhalls will get a fairly bog-standard 60,000 mile/3 year warranty.

Ferrari to revive GTO name

Ferrari is set to return the evocative GTO (Gran Turismo Omolagato) name to its lineup on a limited-edition, two-seat version of the F599 Fiorano GTB. The new car, conceived to run bodywork and mechanical components from the Italian carmaker's race-bound 599XX, is expected to make its public debut at the Paris motor show in September--marking the first time the GTO badge has been applied to one of Ferrari's road cars since the launch of the much-revered 288 GTO in 1984. Among the changes brought to the new car is a series of carbon-fiber exterior panels, a stripped-out interior and specially developed alloy wheels--all aimed at lowering the weight by 132 pounds from the 3,718 pounds of the F599 Fiorano GTB.