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Autoweek in review: Shanghai auto show, Fisker woes and Corvette Stingray pricing

The Shanghai auto show and keeping tabs on Fisker Automotive’s drama kept the Autoweek Web team busy this week. Monday, we focused our coverage on China. Significant reveals included the Icona Vulcano, Ford Escort and Buick Riviera.

This day in Autoweek history: Driving across France in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth

Today we relive a drive across France in the Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth with Cynthia Claes. This potent four-door sedan offered rear-wheel drive, a Borg-Warner five-speed manual transmission and a claimed top speed of 150 mph from its turbocharged 2.0-liter, twin-cam four-cylinder engine. Introduced in 1986, the original Sierra saw 5,542 units constructed; 5,000 were needed for homologation in Class A rally competition, its original purpose.

Driving the Chevy Volt isn't special, and that's good

We've had our first taste of the drive system under development for General Motors' pioneering Chevrolet Volt, piloting a test mule based on the Chevrolet Cruze at the company's Warren (Mich.) Technical Center, and it left us hungering for more. Yes, it's an electric car, but mostly, it's a car--one you could imagine driving every day without feeling as if you were engaged in a lab experiment. Frank Weber, vehicle line executive for the Volt, gets his nose out of joint if you call the drive system a hybrid.