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

GM's Ed Whitacre meets the press in Web chat

General Motors' new front man, Ed Whitacre, remains a bit of an elusive figure in the car world. But at the very least, the former telecom honcho who's now the leader of the nation's largest automaker does like cars. “Oh yes,” he answered in response to that question during a Web chat on Tuesday, one of his first interactions with the media so far in his tenure at the helm of GM.

2012 Mercedes A-Class AMG to get 350bhp & 4WD

Mercedes Concept-A gets unveiled in Shanghai It’s rather hard to imagine the current Mercedes A-Class coming with 350bhp running through its front wheels. It may have managed to pass the Elk test to make it safe, but 350bhp would be enough to tear the steering wheel from your hands and roll you over in a brisk bend. But this isn’t the current A-Class we’re talking about, but the 2012 Mercedes A-Class based on the very fine-looking Mercedes Concept-A we reported a couple of weeks ago, and which bowed in at Shanghai this week.

New Mercedes S Class to use Maybach badge on top models?

Will the top-end Mercedes S-Class models get the Maybach badge? (S63 AMG pictured) Having tried to bring the Maybach badge back from the history books and build a car to compete with Rolls Royce, Mercedes finally admitted it hadn’t worked last year and called time on their Maybach adventure. But having spent untold millions on reviving the Maybach name – and giving it public awareness – it seems Mercedes may not be prepared to shelve the Maybach name completely as there seem to be plans afoot to badge the extra long Mercede S Class with the Maybach badge.