Mercury 894919 89491 9 Key, 2c on 2040-parts.com

Alfa Romeo MiTo Sprint launches

The patriotically-painted Alfa Romeo MiTo Sprint Today we have yet another limited edition – the Alfa Romeo MiTo Sprint – which Alfa has ostensibly put together to celebrate its ongoing support of UK Athletics. Which does at least makes a change from following the herd. This year, that would have meant the Alfa MiTo Black.

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.

2012 Fiat Punto prices revealed – starts at £9,990

The 2012 Fiat Punto costs from £9,990 Prices for the 2012 Fiat Punto have been announced, with the entry level Punto Pop 1.2 starting at £9,990. Fiat has announced prices for the 2012 Punto, with the starting point being the 1.2 litre Pop at £9,990, rising to £15,600 for the range-topping 1.3 litre Multijet, which comes with plenty of equipment including Climate, Cruise and an electric sunroof. With the launch of the 2012 Punto models there are a couple of extra engine options to choose from.