Chevrolet 350 Harmonic Balancer 6966 on 2040-parts.com

Audi R8 e-tron killed off for production – again

It’s more than six months since we reported that Audi were planning to kill off any production plans for the electric R8 e-Tron, with Audi’s head of R&D saying the production plans for the R8 were going to be scrapped. And it seems they have now gone in the bin. Autocar are reporting that Audi has confirmed to them that the R8 e-Tron won’t be going in to production and the ten latest e-Trons to be built will be used just for testing and development to help Audi with its ‘electrification’ plans, which will now almost certainly concentrate on plug-in hybrids and range extenders, rather than EVs.

Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1 revealed

The launch edition of the CLA AMG – the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1 (pictured) has been revealed Launch editions are a way to tempt buyers in to a new model in quick sticks, so Mercedes has revealed the launch model for the new CLA45 – the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1. Frankly, we’d be surprised if MB has any real trouble finding buyers for the CLA 45 AMG, but a launch edition with extra goodies is always a ‘nice to have’, and the CLA45 version looks appealing. The changes aren’t huge for the Edition 1, but they do include a gloss black spoiler at the back, graphite grey side stripes, a set of 19″ matte black alloys and red detailing for the mirrors, wheels and grill.

Smart fortwo Edition Limited Three

Mercedes has had stick in the past for playing with its ‘Toy Car’, the Smart. What was a quality maker like Mercedes doing involved with a car the size of the boot on an S Class Mercedes and named after a watch maker (the name stands for Swatch Mercedes Art)? Don’t get me wrong; there was always going to be a market for a car designed to park ‘nose-in’ in busy European streets, but its seemed like Mercedes was stretching itself too thin at a time when it was suffering a big loss in the reputation it had for building high-quality machinery.