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Autos to overtake manuals

By Jack Carfrae Motor Industry 28 February 2007 07:39 Automatic transmissions will finally overtake manuals as the top-selling gearbox choice in 2007. Autos have been long established as the more popular option Stateside and in Japan, but it seems that Europe has now finally caught the two-pedal bug. With the ever-increasing popularity of semi-automatic gearboxes (Tiptronic, DSG, CVT and a whole flood of other acronyms), it isn’t hard to see why.

Mazda confirms new SkyActiv-D 1.5 litre diesel engine for next Mazda2

The next Mazda2, previewed by the Hazumi Concept (pictured) gets a new SKYACTIV 1.5 diesel The Geneva Motor Show this year saw the arrival of the Mazda Hazumi Concept which was the first view of the next generation Mazda2, due to arrive in early 2015. What the Geneva Show also revealed from Mazda was the new SkyActiv-D 1.5 litre diesel engine which is heading for deployment in Mazda’s cars, and now Mazda has confirmed the next Mazda2 will be offered with the new clean and fugal diesel. Similar to the 2.2 litre diesel already available in the Mazda 6 and Mazda 3, the new 1.5 litre offers 103bhp and 185lb/ft of torque and features a bigger homogenous lean burn range, less mechanical resistance and new insulation to improve cooling and efficiency.

Doomed Saturns, Hummers make assembly-line curtain calls

Two doomed General Motors brands--Saturn and Hummer--are getting their last hurrahs on the assembly line. GM assembled 1,037 Saturn Outlooks last month after not making any Saturns since October. “We are building out a few Saturns to utilize existing material,” GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter said.