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Aston Martin drops Cygnet city car

Autocar is reporting that the diminutive Aston Martin Cygnet has been dropped from the company’s portfolio. The automaker, now owned by Prodrive and private equity firm Invenstindustrial, will focus on its “core product range,” also known as “good cars.” Autocar posits that the justification for the Cygnet was to continue producing V8 and V12 cars, while keeping its average CO2 emissions down. The Cygnet shared bones with the Toyota iQ city car and used a 97-hp, 1.3-liter engine and got 58.9 mpg using the U.S.

NY Times reporter says he followed Tesla's advice

A New York Times reporter says he was following the advice of Tesla employees when he drove an electric Model S sedan beyond its indicated range in an effort to reach a recharging station. Responding to a blog post by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk highly critical of his original article, Times reporter John Broder on Thursday said he did not set out to sabotage the test drive -- refuting one of Musk's most-damning points. Broder also refutes Musk's claim that he drove the car around a parking lot in a deliberate attempt to fully discharge the battery -- Broder says he was looking for the recharge station in a poorly lighted rest stop at night.

Henrik Fisker leaves his eponymous company

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of Fisker Automotive, has resigned from the company as Fisker seeks funding to move forward. But Henrik Fisker managed to convince the car world his Fisker Karma was credible, even if its gestation has been plagued by problems,  the latest of which has been the demise of its battery supplier – A123 Systems – and the wrecking of a dock full of seemingly uninsured Karmas by Hurricane Sandy. The current problems at Fisker has seen them seeking a new investor, with two Chinese companies – Geely and Dohnfeng – vying to take a majority stake in Fisker Automotive and help Fisker recover sales of the Karma and move on with Project Nina, the smaller Fisker Atlantic.