News watch August 2010: today's 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-hourTuesday 31 August 2010• HSBC has sold its US car loan business to Spanish bank Santander, for an estimated £2.6bn in cash and assumed debt. The move sees the bank further distance itself from the collapsed US sub-prime market (Financial Times, subsription required) • Toll roads do not improve congestion, according to the Campaign For Better Transport. Its claims M6 toll road operator Midland Expressway Ltd is losing ‘tens of millions of pounds’ each year, while conditions on the original M6 have failed to improve (Campaign for Better Transport) Friday 27 August 2010• Spyker, which bought Saab earlier this year, has posted a €139m loss after tax in the first half of 2010 it announced today (Financial Times)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says the business is performing strongly in the third quarter – and has ruled out selling Alfa Romeo.

Ginetta G60 revealed with a Mustang engine in the middle

Ginetta G60 Ginetta don’t have the biggest profile in the car world, but they’ve been around – on and off – for over 50 years. Based until the late ’80s up the road from us in Witham, Ginetta was bought by a bunch of enthusiasts, relocated to Yorkshire and seems to be doing alright after a change of ownership in 2007. Alright enough to reveal the Ginetta G60 this week, anyway.

2012 Fiesta ST confirmed

2012 Fiesta ST caught testing in the US (photo via WCF) We really like the current Ford Fiesta; it’s a cracking little car. It’s just a shame that the closest it comes to being a hot hatch is the little more than lukewarm Fiesta Zetec S. But that’s about to change, and not before time.