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News watch December 2010: 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-hourFriday 31 December 2010• A judge in Manhattan has dismissed two lawsuits from hedge funds claiming for $2bn losses when it bought VW shares in 2008. Elliott Associates LP, Black Diamond Offshore and 39 other funds filed a complaint, claiming Porsche misled short-sellers who hadn't realised that Porsche had cornered the market in VW shares (Automotive News)Thursday 30 December 2010• Volvo plans to hire an extra 200 staff as it claims demand for its cars is rising.

Subaru BRZ (2012) - more on FT-86's shy sister

Since the joint venture between Toyota and Subaru was announced in 2009, we've seen four concept cars from Toyota of its version, the FT-86/Scion FR-S. But barring some unfortunate-looking Impreza based engineering mules, we've yet to see the Subaru edition. That situation didn't change at the recent 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, where Subaru once again exhibited the rear-drive platform of what we now know will be called the BRZ with a transparent bodyshell rather than production panels.

BMW i3 spied

BMW i3 caught playing in the snow. Just a few weeks on from the launch of BMW’s new “i” sub-brand, and we have the first spy photo of the BMW i3 out and about in the Scandinavian snow. It seems BMW were busy filming this quite heavily camouflaged i3 for BMW TV when it was snapped, so it seems likely we may be seeing some video soon.