1998 Buick Lesabre Steering Column 1032078 on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes-Benz prototypes spotted

Modern technology makes it harder for automakers to hide their upcoming products from prying eyes. Take, for example, these images sent to us from Autoweek subscriber Jonathan Peters while he was in Utah. Peters speculates that what he saw was a gathering of a varied Mercedes-Benz cars being tested, along with cars from other carmakers for comparisons.

Mazda pushes fuel economy, plans a new engine by 2011

Mazda's push to increase fuel economy across its model line will include a new range of gasoline engines and may involve the introduction of diesel and idle-stop technology in the United States. Mazda is aiming to increase fuel economy across its global lineup by 30 percent by 2015. The first stage of that transformation will include the introduction of a more fuel-efficient four-cylinder powertrain in 2011.

Audi A6 allroad 3.0 TDI is the five millionth Audi with quattro 4WD

The first Audi qauttro hit the headlines in 1980 and now – 33 years later – Audi has produced its five millionth car with AWD – an A6 Allroad. It’s thirty years since Audi became the first mainstream car maker to offer a four wheel drive road car when the Audi quattro hit the road, offering a (certainly for then) fulsome 200PS with the added reassurance of four wheel drive for added grip. True, others had flirted with 4WD road cars before Audi made it mainstream, such as Jensen with the FF in the 1960s, but Audi’s bold move was a real first for a mainstream maker, even if the Audi quattro was not exactly an entry-level model.