New Meyle Ball Joint, 3074073652 on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series and SLS AMG GT get UK price

The lesser of the two new offerings, the new SLS GT, will cost from £165,030 and gets an extra 20bhp over the standard SLS, taking its output to 591.bhp, with power driven to the rear wheels through the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT seven-speed ‘box, with 0-62mph taking 3.7 seconds on the way to a top speed of 199mph. If it matters, official economy is 21.4mpg and emissions 308g/km. Standard specification includes nappa leather and Alcantara for the AMG performance steering wheel, designo black leather with red stitching, AMG mats, B&O BeoSound AMG, red seat belts, 19″ alloys at the front and 20″ alloys at the back, carbon fibre mirrors, red brake calipers and AMG GT badges.

Nissan LEAF World Car of the Year 2011

Nissan LEAF World Car of the Year Award - presented by a man in brown suede trainers Why do judges on COTY Award panels persist in considering a car like the Nissan LEAF for such awards? How can it be, when it does everything less well than an ICE car, that it even gets a look in? We can only assume that the judges on these panels are trying to polish their own green halos.

Crunch watch Jan 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman and Gareth Evans Motor Industry 30 January 2009 12:39 Friday 30 January 2009• Honda is about to close the Swindon factory for four months when Friday's shifts are finished; the shutdown will affect 2500 of the 3700 staff, who will receive full pay for two months and then 60% pay for the next eight weeks (BBC News)• Porsche has announced a sharp drop in sales and likely profits. It forecasts a 27% drop in 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne sales to around 34,000 units in the six months to the end of January 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)• Ford wants Washington to do more to stimulate car sales, after posting a record loss of nearly $14.6 billion earlier this week (Detroit News)• Honda's quarterly profit has crashed by 90% – forcing the Japanese car maker to halve its annual profit target (Detroit Free Press)Thursday 29 January 2009• Ford of Europe is a bright spot in the Blue Oval's quarterly results today, making $1.06 billion pre-tax profit in 2008 (up from $997m in 2007). It's the first profit of more than $1bn since 1989 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Volvo suffered a 'disastrous 2008' with a pre-tax loss of $1.46bn.