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Honda Civic Ti, Accord Facelift (2011) at Geneva

The Honda Civic Type R might have died, but Honda today released pictures of its stylistic equal: the race-inspired but humdrum-powered Civic Ti. Honda says the new Civic Ti takes design cues from the Honda touring car and adds more than £3700 of extras to the 1.4 and 1.8 i-VTEC SE models. The five-door Civic is fitted with 17-inch 'Pro race' matt black wheels from Honda's BTCC racing partner, Team Dynamics. The broody black bodykit includes front spoiler, rear spoiler side inserts and rear body skirts - all contrasting the white pearl paintjob.

Dacia 'to stay true to its budget roots'

The global marketing boss in charge of Dacia’s roll-out has promised that Renault’s budget brand won’t move upmarket. Many bargain car marques end up inching – or scrambling – upmarket, with slicker products, big price hikes and a desertion of their value promise. But Dacia promises it won't follow the likes of Skoda, Hyundai and Kia by starting cheap 'n' cheerful and then raising prices.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.