Mr. Gasket 4976 Crankshaft Pulley-chrome Plated Steel on 2040-parts.com

Grab a ‘VAT Free’ Skoda Octavia

In yet another ‘Sign of the times’ Skoda has announced that they are now offering ‘VAT Free Octavias’ until the end of the year. No, this is not a tie-up between Alistair Darling and VW, it’s just Skoda’s way of offering a headline price decrease of a bit over 13% (less expensive to Skoda than last week for the same headline, to be fair, and there is a new model due in January!). Grab a VAT free Skoda Octavia I’m pretty sure that there will be a raft of these ‘VAT Free’ offers floating around on everything from cars to washing machines, capitalising on the fact the VAT is in the headlines.

Ducati 1199 Panigale merges components, sheds weight [w/gallery]

Ducati has released an image of its new 1199 Panigale without its fairings, illustrating how multiple elements of the bike have been fused together to make it incredibly lightweight and compact. The motorcycle manufacturer has managed to reduce the overall dry weight to be reduced by 10kg to a benchmark weight of just 164kg. The monocoque connects to the specially-designed engine's cylinder heads and comes forward to house the steering head bearings.

New BMW M3 and M4 revealed for 2014

This is it, folks – this is your early petrolheaded Christmas present: BMW has released full details of the new BMW M3 Saloon and M4 Coupe. And we do mean full details. Output of 431 turbocharged horsepower is the headline, but really it’s the extent of the engineering overhaul carried out by BMW’s M division that really stuns the senses here.