Official: Aston Martin gets its hands on Mercedes AMG engines & Electronic Architecture

Aston Martin & AMG confirm they’re getting in bed together Back in December we reported that Aston Martin had new investment from Investindustrial and wondered if that would mean – thanks to an existing relationship between Investindustrial and AMG – if we’d see Aston Martin finally getting access to AMG’s engines and platforms. By May, things had moved on and it was clear that Aston Martin and AMG were in talks for Aston Martin to get access to their engines for the next generation of AML’s cars. Now those talks have borne fruit and AMG and AML have signed a letter of intent for Aston Martin to “access significant Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Mercedes-Benz Cars’ resources, allowing the development of bespoke V8 powertrains and the use of certain components of electric/electronic (e/e) architecture.” Interestingly, there’s no talk of V12 engines – which could mean Aston Martin are going to move from the current Ford V12 for the DB9 and Vanquish to a powerful V8 from AMG – and nor is there talk of sharing platforms.

Mercedes now more affordable

MERCEDES-BENZ has announced a host of offers to make its cars more affordable, including three years of free servicing with the A-class hatchback. Those choosing the A-Class can also take advantage of Mercedes Agility Personal Contract Hire scheme to run an A180 SE from £249 per month for three years, with a deposit of £2743. The C-Class is also offered through the same contract hire programme from £285 for a C180 Executive SE saloon.

More than 5,000 fines issued for lane hogging and tailgating

Dan Chung | Newscom | RTR Following MSN Cars’ exclusive freedom of information investigation into lane hogging, it has emerged that more than 5,000 drivers have been stopped under new careless driving laws since 16 August 2013. A series of freedom of information requests by Auto Express revealed that 1,454 people have been issued with on-the-spot fines for careless driving – which includes lane hogging and tailgating – in Scotland alone.Police authorities turning a blind eye to lane hoggersFixed Penalty Notice driving offences explained   Thames Valley police the biggest issuer of fines for lane hogging Although many areas won’t provide specific information on exactly why drivers have been stopped (usually just classing it as driving without due care and attention or inconsiderate driving), out of those that did Thames Valley issued the most fines for lane hogging – prosecuting 48 drivers for this offence since August last year. This compares with 84 undertaking offences and 46 tailgaters.