Autoweek in review: What you may have missed

On Monday we woke to a recall involving the Ford Fusion and the Escape SUV for a problem with its 1.6-liter engine that could cause a fire. More than 80,000 vehicles were affected, and more bad news was to come. Auction house RM touted its car list for its January Arizona event, including some Italian and American racing history.

VW Group planning 10-speed DSG, new powerful diesel engine & more plug-in hybrids

The end of the internal combustion engine is nigh, they say, as the world tries to clean up its environmental act and works towards a goal of electric motors to power our personal transport. But car makers are fighting that belief by extracting more power for less fuel from ICE engines, and there’s still a very long way to go before the ICE engine is consigned to the history books. Volkswagen has already reduced the fuel consumption of both their diesel and petrol engines by 30 per cent since 2000 and plan a further reduction of 15 per cent by 2020.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Arabia & Flying Spur Speed Arabia revealed

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Arabia It doesn’t take a genius to work out that a good way to keep your customers happy is to make them feel special. Make them feel they’re getting something no one else is because they’re so important. And car makers are no different to any other business, so if they see a chance to do a Limited Edition and suck up to a bunch of good customers at the same time, so much the better.