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Mercedes CLA & GLA will sell 60,000 a year in the USA

Mercedes are aiming to sell 30k CLAs in the US every year It’s not all that long since the only Mercedes car US car buyers actually took seriously was the Mercedes S-Class. But times have changed and the rise in fuel prices and the collapse of the US car market has seen US car buyers looking at more ‘compact’ cars as appealing buys. Which explains why smaller cars have suddenly become an appealing ‘must have’ for car makers selling in the US, even ‘premium’ car makers.

Renault buys Caterham out of the joint Alpine sports car venture

Renault buys Caterham out of the joint Alpine sports car venture It’s more than eighteen months since Renault and Caterham joined forces to create a new breed of sports cars around the Alpine brand. Renault say the arrangement is a mutual one and officially brings to an end the joint venture, and that the business will be renamed Société des Automobiles Alpine this month, although Renault aren’t excluding further ventures with Caterham in the future. The split means that the Alpine project will now be a purely Renault one, and Renault are planning to get their Alpine to market by 2016.

Fiat Americanizes its 500, complete with cupholders

The Fiat 500 subcompact might be Italian through and through, but the U.S. version that arrives in dealerships late this year will cater to American tastes. The American car will have a more powerful engine than the European version, a slightly softer ride and--most important--more substantial, American-style cupholders.