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Ford sees bump in sales of fuel efficient cars, vehicles with smaller engines

Ford customers are showing continued preference for new fuel-efficient models and powertrains with less muscle. Combined sales in May for the new Fiesta and Focus totaled 29,423--a 32 percent increase from a year ago. Ford sold 7,120 copies of the Fiesta and 22,303 of the Focus.

Alfa Romeo Disco Volante returns to Geneva, this time in green and gold

Just about everyone loved the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring Superleggera that debuted at the 2012 edition of the Geneva motor show. The curvy coupe channeled the design of Alfa Romeos of the 1960s, namely the Alfa Romeo 2000 and 2600 penned by Touring, while appearing modern at the same time. The concept, finished in red at the time, drew praise for its good looks, enough to make just about everyone forget what sort of monster lived under that svelte bodywork: the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, powered by a 4.7-liter 450-hp V8 good for a 0 to 60 sprint of 4.2 seconds.

New Jaguar XE OFFICIALLY launched – price from £27,000

The new Jaguar XE arrives After months of teasing, years of planning and huge sums of money spent, it’s here – the new Jaguar XE. Looking like a slightly smaller version of the XF, with an upright nose, longish bonnet, coupe-like profile and stubby tail, the XE is clearly a Jaguar – and a fairly conservative one at that – which is probably sensible when  entering such a competitive sector as the ‘Premium’ compact saloon market. But the new XE isn’t just a punt for a few sales in a new sector for Jaguar, but a car that could take Jaguar from an interesting maker of relatively low volume cars to a global ‘Premium’ car maker; nose to nose in a very competitive sector with, principally, Audi and the A4, BMW and the 3 Series and Mercedes and the C-Class.