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Aston Martin IS up for sale. But you knew that.

The Kuwait Investment Dar – Aston Martin’s biggest shareholder – is seeking a buyer for its 64 per cent share of Aston Martin. Just over a year ago, we reported that Aston Martin was up for sale, even though AML were emphatic the company was doing well and not seeking a new owner. But now it seems a year or more of trying to find a buyer on the quiet has failed, so Aston Martin’s biggest shareholder - the Kuwait Investment Dar with 64 per cent – has instructed Rothschild to advise on the sale, according to Bloomberg.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.

GM to build eight-speed transmission in Toledo

General Motors is directing $204 million of a $2 billion investment in its U.S. plants toward building an eight-speed automatic transmission in Toledo. Automakers are turning to transmissions with more gears to meet more stringent fuel-economy regulations.