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

McLaren 12C Spider Neiman Marcus Edition. Christmas is coming.

This year’s special Christmas car from Neiman Marcus is a special edition of the McLaren 12C Spider with lunch with Ron Dennis thrown in. Last year Neiman Marcus offered the Ferrari FF but this year it’s the turn of the Brits again (the Neiman Marcus Christmas car was the Jaguar XJ in 2009) with the new McLaren 12C Spider, the convertible version of the MP4-12C (which, it appears, McLaren now want us to call just the 12C). The Neiman Marcus 12C Spider is a bog standard car (not that there’s much ‘bog standard’ about 616bhp and a 0-62mph of just 3.1 seconds) in Volcano Red, but it does come with the prerequisite of a Neiman Marcus car by offering something money can’t easily buy (although it self evidently can) – dinner with Ron.

New small Jaguar (Jaguar XS) caught on video at Nurburgring

The new small Jaguar pictured testing at the Nurburgring. A replacement for the un-loved Jaguar X-type has been on Jaguar’s ‘To Do’ sheet for some time, but a new small Jaguar is now finally on the way, although it is still probably more than a year away from hitting Jaguar showrooms. But a year or so is no time in terms of new car development, so Jaguar are already out playing with prototypes of the new small Jaguar – perhaps the Jaguar XS – although they’re wearing slightly unconvincing XF clothes.

Volkswagen Phaeton will return to U.S. market

The Phaeton large sedan is coming back to Volkswagen's lineup in the United States, according to the head of the German plant that builds the car. VW pulled the $85,000 Phaeton from the U.S. market in 2006 after four years of falling short of sales expectations.