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Infiniti plans full-court press for March Madness

Infiniti plans to keep its name--and especially its new M hybrid sedan--in front of basketball fans for the next few weeks as a sponsor of NCAA Men's Basketball Division I championship. Under a multi-network advertising deal with NCAA, CBS Sports and Turner Sports, Infiniti will run a total of 170 TV spots of up to 60 seconds each over the next four weeks of March Madness basketball playoffs on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV networks, says Kathy Roznowski, a marketing manager at Infiniti. Of those 170 spots, at least 100 will be for the new hybrid sedan, the luxury brand's first, starting March 17.

Toyota talks powertrain plans

After trailing many of its competitors in the recent engine- and transmission-technology wars, Toyota Motor Corp. will launch a swath of powertrains in the next several years, a top powertrain r&d executive said. Koei Saga, senior managing officer in charge of drivetrain r&d, said that Toyota is investing heavily in turbocharged engines, larger displacement Atkinson cycle engines, continuously variable and fixed-gear automatic transmissions, and new hybrid and fuel cell technologies.

Vauxhall Ampera is 2012 European Car of the Year

The Opel/Vauxhall Ampera has been crowned European Car of the Year for 2012. The winner was announced today at a ceremony at the 2012 Geneva motor show. The votes of the 59 jurors from 23 European countries ranked the Ampera first, from a shortlist comprising Citroen DS5, Fiat Panda, Ford Focus, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera/Chevrolet Volt, Range Rover Evoque, Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen Up.