97 98 99 00 01 Honda Prelude R. Upper Control Arm Rear/a78 on 2040-parts.com

BMW to invest £500 million in UK MINI production

David Cameron welcomes BMW's £500 million investment in the UK What’s going on? Two days on the trot we get good news about the UK economy. Yesterday we reported that Nissan are to invest £192 million to design and build the next generation Qashqai in the UK, and today comes confirmation from BMW that they will be spending £500 million over the next three years in the UK as they gear up for the next generation MINI.

Mercedes-Benz previews S-Class via 'Aesthetics S' sculpture

Mercedes-Benz has previewed the next-generation S-Class by continued its series of sculptures with ‘Aesthetics S', set to be unveiled at the Paris motor show. The new relief-like sculpture is set to display the automaker's view of the design of the future luxury saloon through projected images that give a glimpse of the upcoming sedan. Depictions of the four previous S-Class models from the past – the model series W189, W108, W126 and W221 – it can also convey the impact of the S-Class tradition.

Audi S1 at Paris

The Audi S1 will have a Paris Launch (A1 Wörthersee Concept pictured) It’s getting on for a year since we reported that – despite some saying it wouldn’t happen – Audi were planning at least a warm version of the A1 and had on the drawing board the Audi S1 to take on the MINI Cooper. So it’s not a shock that we hear Audi are planning on bring the S1 along to Paris for a reveal before getting the S1 on the roads by the second quarter of 2011. Expect the usual Audi S bits in the mix  - bigger wheels, fettled suspension, beefed-up brakes, body kit – and power in the S1 to come from the S/C turbo 1.4 TSI found in the VW Polo GTI, although the S1 may just get a tweaked version of the engine as befits its higher standing in the VW hierarchy with a bit more than the 178 horses the Polo GTI manages.