18" Moto 957 Black W/ 305-60-18 Nitto Terra Grappler At on 2040-parts.com

Audi RS5 Cabriolet (2012) first official pictures

Audi has taken its tin-opener to the RS5, to create this RS5 Cabriolet. Powertrain-wise, it's mechanically identical to the coupe, only now there's a soft-top roof that'll fold away in 15secs at speeds of up to 31mph.  Folding the roof swallows 60 litres of the boot's 380-litre capacity, but it's the sonorous engine that we're more interested in... Audi's 2012 RS5 Cabriolet: the performance The drivetrain is unchanged from the hard-top RS5.

News watch March 2010: today's auto industry news

Tuesday 30 March 2010• Mercedes has dismissed claims that its Maybach brand is for sale, after reports in the Chinese media claimed Chinese car company BYD was considering a bid for the upmarket offshoot. BYD has also denied the claims (Reuters)• Toyota president Akio Toyoda has promised his company will listen more carefully to customers and react faster in a bid to regain credibility after the Japanese car manufacturer was forced to recall millions of vehilces over safety fears (BBC)• The Obama administration is expected to unveil its finalised fuel economy and tailpipe emissions through to 2016 this week, to coincide with the opening of the 2010 New York auto show (Detroit News)  Monday 29 March 2010• Toyota has agreed to licence the hybrid technology in the Prius to Mazda, which will combine the electric system with its next-gen Sky engines. It’s part of Mazda’s plans to increase the average fuel economy of its vehicles by 30% by 2015 (compared to 2008 levels) and it hopes to have its first hybrid vehicle on sale in Japan by 2013 (Mazda)• Ford and Chinese car company Geely have signed a stock purchase agreement that will allow the latter to acquire 100% of Volvo (along with related assets including intellectual property rights).

Aston Martin One-77 – in the flesh

The completed Aston Martin One-77 revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este But as we told you the other day, Aston Martin decided that the perfect place to show an ostensibly finished One-77 was the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este. Which, if it hadn’t rained (which thankfully it didn’t the whole time) would have been idyllic (actually, we had heard on the grapevine that Aston Martin had agreed that the first showing would be at this year’s Salon Prive at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham – glad we didn’t run that as a story!). I have to say the Aston Martin One-77 does look as glorious in the flesh as we hoped.