Fuel Tank Strap Dorman 578-107 on 2040-parts.com

Audi buys Ducati. Trophy or shrewd investment?

Audi buy Ducati It’s been confirmed that Audi is to buy Ducati, the Italian Super Bike maker, for an undisclosed sum thought to be around £700 million. Last month we reported that Audi has entered in to an exclusive agreement to buy Ducati, pipping Mercedes to the trophy super bike maker and adding a trophy to its cabinet. And the deal is now done.

New Mercedes ML to be the Mercedes GLE

The Mercedes Concept Coupe (pictured) will arrive as the Mercedes GLE Coupe Car makers’ model ranges have grown massively in recent years and that, in a lot of cases, has left traditional model designations floundering to inform potential buyers. Mercedes has made some moves of late to address the lack of clarity in model designations (the Mercedes CL, for example, has become the new Mercedes S-Class Coupe), and new models have started to arrive with more descriptive names. Models like the CLA (a coupe from the A-Class range) and GLA (an SUV/Crossover from the A-Class range) and that looks set to be extended when the next Mercedes ML and ML Coupe arrive in 2015.

SSC Tuatara revealed in Shanghai

Jerod Shelby reveals the SSC Tuatara in Shanghai We finally discovered last month that Shelby Supercars wouldn’t be calling their new Veyron-bashing hypercar the Ultimate Aero II (which seemed logical) but has instead taken a leaf out of Pagani’s ‘Book of obscure names for Supercars’ and decided on SSC Tuatara. Yep, SSC has named their hypercar after the Maori name for a lizard, a lizard with the fastest evolving DNA of any creature (doubtless the motivation for Jerod nicking the name for his car). Interestingly, a comment on the story we ran about the new SSC getting the Tuatara moniker said that as well as having the fastest evolving DNA of any creature, the Tuatara “…puts a tortoise to shame in the slow moving stakes, and is also regarded as a living link to the dinosaurs” which, for Jerod Shelby’s benefit, we should probably gloss over.