Ngk Standard Cr9eh-9 Spark Plug on 2040-parts.com

Ariel Atom 3.5 (2012) first official pictures

It's difficult for Ariel to come up with a mid-life refresh for its cars - there simply aren't that many bits to fiddle with in the first place. Still, the boys from Somerset must have succeeded, because what we have here is the freshly updated Ariel Atom 3.5. As the name suggests, it's a development of the Ariel Atom 3, with a crop of minor visual  tweaks and some mechanical changes too, keeping Caterham and BAC looking over their shoulders.

Now the Germans say no to Volvo

As we’ve reported in the last few weeks, Ford has been trying its best to offload Volvo, the last of its ‘Prestige’ Euro marques. The Chinese looked to be the best bet, but it seems that that is going nowhere at the moment (the Chinese are probably waiting for Ford to get in to an even deeper mess with the hope of picking up Volvo for peanuts) and now its seems that Ford’s fire-sale has drawn more blanks. Now the Germans turn down the chance to own Volvo Der Spiegel reports that Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) boss Dieter Zetsche has revealed that Daimler has turned down the chance to buy Volvo, and has also revealed that BMW has had a good look, and reached the same decision.

Peugeot 508 Spied

The Peugeot 508 caught in Madrid We first reported that Peugeot were planning on dumping the 407 and 607 and replacing them with a car pitched somewhere in between – the Peugeot 508 – back in November. Which makes sense. The big French cars never sell anywhere other than France and the 407 needs to go a bit more upmarket to keep up with the competition.