Big Saab and Volvo station wagons could be going out of fashion in their homeland of Sweden, according the International Herald Tribune, as the Italians relaunch a tiny but iconic car.
The IHT reckons the popularity to date of big Saabs and Volvos means that Sweden has the highest level of "pollution-emitting" cars in the EU. It says such stats are "forcing Swedes to weigh a delicate trade-off between support for their cherished automakers and their rapidly greening mindset".
Olle Maberg, a retired executive from Volvo who drives a large Volvo 4x4 admits to the IHT: "As global warming becomes more evident it will get more and more embarrassing to drive around in a big and heavy car like this."
Perhaps the Swedes could turn to the tiny Fiat 500. The Times reports that the "iconic" Cinquecento is being relaunched by the Turin carmaker 50 years after the original model hit the streets.
It says the old Fiat 500 "symbolises for many Italians the postwar years of economic boom and the dolce vita." At the launch of the new model, which was attended by the prime minister, Romano Prodi, Fiat claimed: "The new Fiat 500 will be the iPod of cars."
The Guardian says the new model is "sleeker" but slightly bigger than the old one.
This is an extract of the Wrap our digest of the daily papers.
