Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Autoweek in review: What you may have missed

It was a slower week in the newsroom as 2012 winded down. On Monday, we learned how motorcycles were coming back and got some ideas for last-minute holiday gifts. In the racing world, the Trans Am Series announced that it’s expanding the 2013 race schedule.

Mercedes-Benz CL gets a facelift for 2011

Three years after its introduction, Mercedes-Benz has given the CL a mid-cycle facelift, providing the big two-door with lightly altered bumpers--those up front with new LED daytime running lamps, reshaped headlamps, a more contoured hood, larger exterior mirrors with integrated indicators and revised tail-lamp lenses, among other detailed visual changes. More significant than the styling tweaks, however, are the changes underneath the hood, with the arrival of a new twin-turbocharged 4.6-liter V8 direct-injection gasoline engine--the first of Mercedes-Benz's advanced MoVe powerplants that aim to bring efficiency gains to its lineup. With 429 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, the new engine delivers 47 hp and 125 lb-ft more than the naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8 it replaces in the four-year-old CL500--enough to lower the luxury coupe's 0-to-62-mph time by 0.5 second to 4.9 seconds.

BMW M135i Concept heading for the Geneva Motor Show

The BMW M135i Concept is heading for Geneva BMW are taking the first petrol-engined car in its new M Performance range to the 2012 Geneva Motor Show – the BMW M135i Concept. It looks like BMW are going to be rolling out their new sub-M range of cars across the entire BMW range. We’ve already had the big diesel bruisers of the new M Performance Range – the M550d, X5 M50d and X6 M50d – revealed ahead of Geneva – and news of the M Performance Parts for the 1 Series.