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Dodge to get 40-mpg small car; touts mid-cycle product changes

Dodge is 14 months away from having a 40-mpg small car based on a Fiat platform. The tooling for that car was recently handed off to Chrysler Group's engineering department, Dodge CEO Ralph Gilles told journalists in San Francisco on Sunday. That small car is key to Chrysler's recovery strategy and to meeting stricter U.S.

Toyota FT-86 II: Now Toyota mean it. Really

Toyota FT-86 II at Geneva Toyota has been threatening to produce an affordable sports car for quite a while. And when we first saw the Toyota FT-86 Concept at the end of 2009 (and in the flesh at Goodwood last summer) we’d expected to see it launch this year. Despite that expectation, we discovered in January that Toyota were actually taking a different concept to Geneva – the Toyota FT-86 II – dashing any hopes of the FT-86 in any shape or form hitting the road this year.

Power Boost For Vauxhall’s Sporty Astra GTC

VAUXHALL has boosted the performance of its three-door Astra GTC with the inclusion of a new 1.6-litre turbo petrol motor. Slotting in below the firm’s hot VXR variant, this latest addition to the Astra range boasts 197 horsepower and is the same unit that also powers Vauxhall’s premium drop-top, the Cascada. On-paper performance figures promise a brisk driving experience, with the 1.6 turbo Astra GTC topping out at 143mph and capable of sprinting to 60mph in 7.3 seconds.