By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

As the old marketing axiom goes, it costs a lot less to keep a customer than win a new one, and America’s Ford continues to lead in keeping its customers coming back to its showrooms.

According to the U.S.-based Polk research firm, for the fist three months of 2013, Ford continues to win back customers with a brand loyalty rate of 65.1 per cent among new vehicle owners — the best in the industry. Toyota ranked second at 58.5 per cent, with Honda coming in third spot with a 57 per cent score. Chevrolet (56.2 per cent), and Mercedes-Benz and Nissan (tied at 55.9 per cent) rounded out the top six brands.

There always has to be losers in these types of reports. And sitting at the bottom of the surveyed brands was Mazda at 37 per cent. However, that’s a 7.8 per cent improvement from Polk’s rating from the first quarter of 2012.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Remember a few years back when all the cars in the sport-compact scene were stuffing as many glowing lights into parts of the body as possible? The appearance on some was more UFO-like than superstar, but for the most part seems to have disappeared almost entirely.

Well, apparently Mercedes-Benz is looking to join the party, albeit very late, with a new accessory: the Illuminated Star. Basically, owners of new 'Benz models with upright grilles and large three-pointed star logos can have them glow when it's dark out. It uses the same LED technology found in the car-maker's headlights and driving lights and turns on when the vehicle is unlocked

Currently, the accessory can be fitted to latest-generation GL-Class or M-Class, the upcoming 2014 E-Class or any year CLS, but the company says it'll roll out to other models soon enough.

Although we can't find the price for it in Canada, given the general cost of adding accessories to luxury German metal, we'd bet it won't be inexpensive.

If you were ordering a new Mercedes-Benz, would you consider one? Or retrofit onto a vehicle you currently own? What other glowing parts should 'Benz — or other manufacturers — offer as well? Let us know in the comments. 

Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Father-son racing dynasties aren't uncommon in racing. Look at the Andrettis, Rahals and Foyts in IndyCar, or the Petty's, Earnhardts and Jarretts in NASCAR. F1 is no different, thanks to some Hills and Villeneuves.

Now, the latest comes from Mercedes-Benz driver Nico Rosberg, who ended up winning the Monaco Grand Prix exactly 30 years after his father Keke. It was Nico's second-ever victory in F1, and his win was virtually assured when he scored the pole position during qualifying. Monaco might be the flashiest and most-watched race on the calendar, but its super-tight layout and complete lack of passing zones mean overtaking is rare at best. Basically, all Rosberg had to do was not crash...

Which he didn't do, unlike several other drivers who found out just how hard the walls are. Several cars farther down the more-money-than-talent order were playing bumper cars enough to warrant two safety car periods. The restarts behind the pace car were the only times either Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber, both driving for Red Bull Racing, would get close and they finished in second and third respectively. Rosberg's teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth despite starting second.

Nico Rosberg's only other win in F1 came last year in China when he went flag-to-flag there as well. This year he hadn't finished better than fourth, but had been on pole for the last three events, so you kinda figured something positive was coming his way.

Now, whether he can actually turn this victory into a championship is a whole other conversation... 

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Although the famous slogan "It gives you wings" belongs to action-sports sponsor Red Bull, perhaps city car maker Smart could pay a licencing fee and use it for its new production car. The Smart forjeremy was a crazy winged concept car co-developed with American fashion designer Jeremy Scott that we figured would just stay that way: a concept.

Nope. Smart says the forjeremy is actually entering production and various people around the world will actually be able to buy one. 

Beyond the special paint colours and upgraded, custom leather interior parts, the main talking point will always be the pair of wings sprouting off the back.

In a press release, Scott explained, "I wanted to design something out of the ordinary, something that expressed my dreams and fantasies and that transferred my fashion ideas to automotive design. I see myself driving this car and can well imagine my friends and cool people all over the world loving the unique design of this smart.”

The model will be called the fortwo edition by Jeremy Scott and will be available with eiher a 100-horsepower 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder or as electric vehicles with either 55 kW or 60 kW. Pricing for Europe has been set from €33,333 to €40,600, which means from $45K-$55K Canadian.

So the Jeremy Scott Smart joins the John Varvatos Chrysler 300C and clothes by Isaac Mizrahi 'inspired' by the new Chevrolet Malibu as the latest in a long line of fashion designers asked to cross-pollinate with cars. Which has been your favourite over the years? The Bill Blass Lincolns? The Levis-branded AMCs? None of them? Let us know in the comments.

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos 

All of its rivals have a head start. Some are already in their second-generation models. But from the What the Heck Took So Long department, it looks like Toyota’s premium Lexus brand has finally decided to jump into the exploding small SUV/crossover market.

A report from Automotive News says Lexus will unveil a concept of a new compact crossover at this fall’s Tokyo auto show, followed by the unveiling of the production version at the 2014 Geneva show, next March. The new-for-Lexus luxury cute-ute should then go on-sale in late-2014 as a 2015 model.

By Steve Mertl for MSN Autos

Parents who think traditional driving schools don’t do enough to prepare their kids for the realities of the road and believe the Europeans do it better now have an alternative thanks to a German luxury carmaker.

The Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy for New Drivers, which has just launched in Vancouver but will expand to other cities, combines the Canadian-style licensing curriculum with more direct coaching and European-style supervised driving instead of rote instruction.

Mercedes-Benz Canada president Tim Reuss said human error is responsible for 90 per cent of car crashes. They’re the top killer in the 15-24 age group, who account for a quarter of all driving fatalities in Canada.

The company already sponsors advanced- and performance-driving courses mainly for Mercedes owners but the new school is geared towards young people just learning to drive, as well as adults such as new Canadians who want a licence.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Juan-Manuel Fangio of Argentina is regularly considered one of the gratest Formula 1 drivers to ever turn a wheel in anger, made even more amazing when you consider the complete lack of safety gear and racetracks with little margin for error.

Unlike some drivers who stayed with one team or manufacturer over their carrer, Fangio jumped around from team to team, but remains the only driver to win Grand Prix titles for four different squads: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz.

It's that final team whose wares will be offered at a Bonham's auction to be held during the Goodwood Festival of Speed this coming July. The W196 is described as Mercedes-Benz' first 'true' post-war Formula 1 machine and it debuted a number of important technologies, including fuel injection, a fully-independent suspension, inboard disc brakes, a spaceframe chassis design, and more. The 2.5-litre straight-eight engine was the first from Mercedes-Benz not to feature forced induction, but still produced a quite-incredible 260-ish horsepower. 

The first W196 cars were fully enclosed to allow higher speeds, but after the first few races in '54, Fangio asked the team to build some with exposed wheels that would allow him to better position the car around the infamous Nurburgring racetrack, a 23-kilometre track in Germany that Brit Jackie Stewart later nicknamed the Green Hell.

The first open-wheel W196 - chassis number 00006/54 - was given to Fangio for the German Grand Prix, which he won easily. Fangio repeated in the same car at the following event in Switzerland, and helped secure his second driver's championship.

Bonhams is estimating this incredible piece of history could fetch between $40-$50 million, which if sold would make it the most expensive car ever sold.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Never one to shy away from on-screen vehicular carnage, the latest installment of the Die Hard franchise looks set to establish a new level of craziness.

According to USA Today, the new Die Hard takes Bruce Willis as John McClane to Europe for the first time, more specifically Moscow. His long-ignored son is in trouble and the reunion obviously doesn't go as planned...

Anyway, over the course of the movie, over 600 separate vehicles were used, from old Ladas to Lamborghinis, along with a bevy of high-dollar Mercedes-Benz products, including Unimogs, Sprinters and Zetros trucks. Of those, 132 were smoking unfixable wrecks, while 518 still needed significant work to fix.

"With Die Hard it's about how audacious the action is," director John Moore says. "So you have to drive over a Lamborghini. An actual one. And yes it hurts me. I'm a car fanatic."

The whole sequence boils down to 'several' minutes and, in the end, the final tally was over $11 million.

As crazy as that sounds, that's still nowhere near the most expensive cost for a movie car chase. That honour still goes to The Matrix Reloaded, where they actually built a 1.4-mile loop of freeway and over 300 cars. Cost? Over $40 million.

I'm eager to get out and see how the movie turns out... Has anyone already seen it? Worth the ticket price or wait until it hits Netflix?

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

We praised Mercedes-Benz' second effort at a front-drive five-door hatch after testing the all-new B250 last fall, and the swoopy four-door CLA-Class 'coupe' based on the same mechanicals wowed us at the North American International Auto Show. And although not familiar to most Canadians, the smaller A-Class hatch - the third sibling -has been a similar success in Europe.

Given that AMG, the company's in-house go-faster division, has been tasked with transforming every single product Mercedes-Benz offers (except the Sprinter), we knew a high-powered compact based on these kissing cousins wouldn't be far along. Guess we were right: this is the A 45 AMG.

The car has been officially revealed ahead of its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show and we'll give you a run-down on the juiciest details. Somehow, AMG managed to tweak and boost the 2.0-litre four-cylinder found in the B 250 from 210 horsepower to over 360 in the A45. Torque takes a similar jump: up from 260 lb-ft to 330. The seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual has been beefed up to handle the extra power, but the A 45 AMG does get help with traction thanks to 4MATIC all-wheel drive.

The combination means the A45 does the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.6 seconds and tops out at a limited 250 km/h. Amazingly, Mercedes-Benz also claims fuel consumption average of only 6.9-7.1 L/100 km on the European cycle. The Canadian B 250 does 7.9 L/100 km in the city and 5.5 on the highway, so that's some impressive work.

As you'd expect, the front and rear suspension components are heavily revised, including an AMG-spec four-link axle in the back. High-performance 235/40R18 rubber on twin-spoke AMG wheels is standard, while larger drilled and slotted brakes work to bring the A 45 AMG down from speed quickly and without drama.

The visual changes are equally dramatic with different and more aggressive fascias, vents and twin square tailpipes. The interior boasts more supportive front seats, an AMG-specific steering wheel and more.

We're guessing the A 45 AMG won't come to North America, but we'd bet our lunch that the upcoming CLA-Class will certainly benefit from the same attention in a year or two. Maybe even the B-Class, but that's less likely...

What's your take on AMG's effort? Worth the money? Trying too hard? Do you like it or not?

By Greg Kable, AutoWeek

Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG have formed a partnership aimed at speeding up the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicle technology.

Together, the automakers plan to develop a common fuel cell stack and fuel cell system to be used in what they describe as "highly differentiated, separately branded fuel cell electric vehicles" as early as 2017.

As part of the new partnership, made official at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, the automakers say they plan to help define global specifications, component standards and develop infrastructure solutions necessary to allow fuel cell electric vehicles to be mass-marketed.