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.

Audi Q5 refreshed for 2013, new engines added

For a mid-cycle refresh, Ingolstadt hasn't lavished a whole passel of aesthetic rearrangement upon the Audi Q5. There's some fiddling in the interior, some minor meddling with the face and, really, that's about that. The company did, however, go a bit zany in the engine bay.

Chevrolet sprinkles in some ZR1 for the Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition

With the ZR1 grabbing all the headlines of late, it's easy to forget about the other pumped-up performance thoroughbred in the Corvette stable--the Z06. However, that's about to change, because Chevrolet is taking some of the ZR1 goodies and transplanting them over onto the Z06 for the 2011 model year, such as the Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and magnetic select ride control system. The features will be standard on a new 2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition, which Chevy is using to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Corvette's first 24 Hours of LeMans race.