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Modified Mercedes turned to gold

GERMAN tuning firms are known for occasionally crossing the barriers of taste, but this latest offering from Carlsson appears to have gone into new territory. Called the CS50 Versailles – after the Palace of Versailles that King Louis XIV turned into a opulent chateau – it’s based on the latest generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which is hardly a car short on luxury. But that hasn’t stopped Carlsson turning it into an automotive homage to gold.

2012 Ford Focus

Ford revealed the all-new third generation Focus at the Detroit auto show last week. The C-segment vehicle is the latest evolution of the Ford kinetic design form language that has been developed by the team at the company's Merkenich design center near Cologne in Germany, under the leadership of executive design director Martin Smith. With a more dynamic form language bringing the vehicle in line with its smaller (Fiesta) and larger (Mondeo) siblings, the new Focus has been engineered to meet all customer and legislative requirements of the major worldwide markets.

CAR scoop: BMW and Toyota's joint sports car plot

BMW is buddying up with Toyota on an all-new sports car platform, set to underpin the replacements for the Z4, 6-series and GT86. The unlikely collaboration stems from an alliance that began in 2011, where BMW and Toyota agreed to co-develop next-generation lithium ion batteries, and for Toyota to use BMW’s fourpot diesels in its European cars. An engineering team is beavering away on the project, with the clock ticking: the suits want to outline the car’s specification before the end of 2013. What does BMW get out of the bargain?