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Daimler and Renault-Nissan strike a global partnership

Daimler today struck a wide-ranging partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance, in a deal that will usher in new jointly developed cars, shared technologies and a multitude of cost savings.  Cars such as the new 2014 Smart Fortwo will now be twinned with the next Renault Twingo, while the Forfour is set for a comeback and we can expect plenty of shared combustion engines and electric motors, borrowed platforms and jointly developed SUV tech across all three parties. And that's only scratching the surface of the possibilities opened up by this wide-ranging deal.

Mazda's rotary engine stalled, not forgotten

Development of the next-generation rotary engine from Mazda Motor Corp., first unveiled three years ago, is making slow progress despite missing emissions targets. A top Mazda powertrain executive said today that the 1.6-liter rotary engine, called the 16X, is about 30 percent more fuel-efficient than the current rotary engine used in the RX-8 sporty car. In fact, the 16X so far performs slightly better than Mazda's standard two-liter gasoline engine, said Mitsuo Hitomi, general manager of the Japanese carmaker's powertrain division.

Aston Martin Virage: Best to think of it as the DB9 ‘Ghia’

Aston Martin Virage at Geneva No, we didn’t know there was a yawning gap in price and performance between the Aston Martin DB9 and the Aston Martin DBS, crying out to be filled by the new Aston Martin Virage. And nor did we know there was a similar gap between the DBS Volante and the DB9 Volante, just begging for the Aston Martin Virage Volante. But Aston Martin obviously realised.