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

Official: Aston Martin gets its hands on Mercedes AMG engines & Electronic Architecture

Aston Martin & AMG confirm they’re getting in bed together Back in December we reported that Aston Martin had new investment from Investindustrial and wondered if that would mean – thanks to an existing relationship between Investindustrial and AMG – if we’d see Aston Martin finally getting access to AMG’s engines and platforms. By May, things had moved on and it was clear that Aston Martin and AMG were in talks for Aston Martin to get access to their engines for the next generation of AML’s cars. Now those talks have borne fruit and AMG and AML have signed a letter of intent for Aston Martin to “access significant Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Mercedes-Benz Cars’ resources, allowing the development of bespoke V8 powertrains and the use of certain components of electric/electronic (e/e) architecture.” Interestingly, there’s no talk of V12 engines – which could mean Aston Martin are going to move from the current Ford V12 for the DB9 and Vanquish to a powerful V8 from AMG – and nor is there talk of sharing platforms.

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK AMG breaks cover

Mercedes-Benz is adding even more mojo to the SLK roadster for 2012, launching the most powerful version of its long-running sports car. Dressed in AMG trim, the SLK gets an even angrier look and a slew of performance enhancements. But that’s all overshadowed by one omnipotent figure: the 415 hp derived from the naturally aspirated V8.

Infiniti 'gunning for 700,000 sales' - Ghosn

Infiniti is planning to announce a new sales target of 10% global luxury market share - quadrupling sales to 700,000 a year - in a new mid-term statement due this summer. Renault Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn told CAR that Infiniti is on line to sell 165,000 cars worldwide in 2011 but said Nissan was investing heavily in its premium division to swell sales considerably. It's an ambitious goal: if successful, Infiniti would be encroaching on the 1m+ territory today dominated by the German luxury brands.