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Dodge to gatecrash Fiesta party

By Phil McNamara Motor Industry 30 July 2006 01:40 American brand Dodge is plotting a small hatch to take on Ford's Fiesta, with sales likely in 2008. Chrysler Group is in talks with three potential partners, to share a chassis for the baby Dodge. Chrysler boss Tom LaSorda told CAR Online that talks were ongoing with car makers from 'western Europea and Asia', and that he would make a decision on the project by the end of 2006.

First Sight: Mercedes-AMG GT

“If I was to buy any sports car that wasn't a Mercedes, it'd be a Porsche 911,” says Mercedes' head of design, Gorden Wagener. “But when you see the two cars together, we think ours has the edge.” He's talking about the new Mercedes-AMG GT, a front-mid engined, two-seater sports car that's unashamedly aimed at higher-end 911s, and we've come to see it at Mercedes' Sindelfingen studio.  The GT replaces the larger SLS, and is seen by Wagener as the best example yet of his 'sensual purity' design philosophy: “The SLS is very much [he gestures] line, line with a surface in between. With the GT we started with the surface and worked to refine and reduce the number of lines.” Elements of the SLS's platform have been carried over, so the GT measures the same 1,939mm wide.

Video: Listen to the Alfa 4C rev then watch it hit the track

We haven't heard many complaints about the new Alfa Romeo 4C. So far, kvetching has been limited to the fact that Alfa won't produce too many of them, that they won't be free, and that there's no manual transmission option. Also, the headlights are weird.