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First Fiat 500s will have stick shifts

The 2012 Fiat 500 , heading to U.S. dealerships later than first expected, is enduring another hiccup: The first units arriving in dealerships in late February will have manual transmissions, the company said. Moreover, only about 20 percent of the 130 Fiat dealerships will be open when those first cars arrive, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America, at the Detroit auto show last week.

Toyota will install brake override systems to prevent runaway vehicles

Toyota will install brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles by year end as a way to prevent unintended acceleration. The new system will be put in all vehicles globally, said Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota North America Inc., in an interview at the Detroit auto show on Monday. The initiative follows a recall last fall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the United States to correct the problem.

EyesOn Design Awards Winners announced

On the second day of the Detroit auto show, the traditional EyesOn Design awards took place in the newly-opened Atrium Stage of the Cobo Hall. For the first time in its eight-year history, the judges of the competition (who include present and retired design directors from almost every major automotive OEM) awarded the 'Best Concept Vehicle' award to two designs – the Ford Atlas and Nissan Resonance, beating the Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis and Lincoln MKC concepts to the award. In the production car category, the Cadillac ELR was a somewhat surprise winner, beating internal GM rival, the new Corvette Stingray to the award.