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The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Ferrari F60America – a limited edition, open-top Ferrari F12

The Ferrari F60America – just 10 being built Ferrari has been selling cars in North America for 60 years, and to celebrate they’ve created a limited edition, open top Ferrari F12 that will be limited to just 10 units – the Ferrari F60America. Just as they did with previous North American special Ferraris – like the 1967 275 GTS4 NART Spider – the F60America is an open-top version of the Ferrari F12 with just a limited nod to practicality – you can only drive with the top up at speeds up to 80mph, which means you really need a ‘Sunshine State’ to properly enjoy the F60America. Powered by the same 730bhp insane V12 from the F12, the F60America has exactly the same 3.1 second 0-62mph but gets some new aluminium bodywork too with deep strakes, bigger winglets, extra holes in the bonnet, leather-clad rollover hoops and carbon fibre buttresses that flow over the rear deck.

Honda Personal-Neo Urban Transport (P-NUT) concept

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 02 December 2009 21:58 You can always rely on the Japanese car makers to invent the craziest names. Honda didn’t disappoint at the 2009 Los Angeles auto show, with the new P-Nut concept car. That stands for Personal-Neo Urban Transport, in case  you were wondering.  It’s quite a different kettle of fish (bag of nuts?) from last year’s striking supercar hybrid concept car shown a year ago almost to the day.