Pontiac Chevy Firebird Corvette Headlight Headlamp Motor Gear Lift on 2040-parts.com

How Lexus execs rescued the GS sedan

Eighteen months ago, Toyota had all but scrapped its plans for the redesigned Lexus GS 350 sedan that was unveiled in Monterey, Calif., last week. At the time, the company was pouring engineering resources into resolving its unintended acceleration crisis and was busy changing quality and safety procedures. Plus, the GS' underwhelming sales in the United States and Europe made for a weak business case against the Mercedes E-class and BMW 5-series.

VW at Leipzig Auto Show: CC R Line, Scirocco GTS, Beetle Fender & CrossPolo ‘Urban White’

Volkswagen is going to the 2012 Leipzig Auto Show with a quartet of new models, but only one is heading for the UK. The Leipzig Auto Show may not rank in the top tier of world car shows, but that’s not stopping Volkswagen from turning up with a whole heap of new models this weekend. The VW CC R Line is exactly what it says on the badge, a butched-up version of VW’s CC with a set of 17″ alloys, a bit of a body kit, a splash of chrome and a R Line multi function steering wheel inside.

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.