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Mercedes A45 AMG – with Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg (video)

That lump is a 2.0 litre turbo 4-cylinder that produces a not insignificant 355bhp and 332lb/ft of torque, which is enough to get the pocket rocket A45 to 62mph in a competition busting 4.6 seconds. And with the A45 AMG heading towards Mercedes showrooms soon, MB are bust promoting their new hot hatch, and what better way to do that than rope in your own highly paid F1 drivers to add a bit of performance gloss? So Mercedes has put Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of an A45, Nico Rosberg in the passenger seat and a ‘Good Fairy’ in the road to sort out arguments about who should get to drive.

Citroën invites design ideas via Facebook

Citroën has launched a Facebook app calling for users to select design features for what it calls a special edition car, the first crowdsourced car in the UK. Rather than the genuinely design-led competitions we've seen recently from Renault (Twizy) and Citroën's own DS3, ‘You Like It, We Make It', offers six configurations such as exterior and interior color scheme, technology options like Bluetooth and SatNav, alloys, and the number of doors the vehicle has. The Citroeën C1 Connexion special edition will be kitted out with the most popular ideas and those participating via the app will be in with a chance of winning the car when it goes on sale later in the year.

The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.