Alfa Romeo Oil Pan Protector on 2040-parts.com

Bentley SUV confirmed for production

A Bentley worker has told the Sentinel that the Bentley EXP 9 F – the Bentley SUV – is confirmed for production. It obviously didn’t seem like a big deal to the reporter at Staffordshire’s Sentinel newspaper when a Bentley employee told them that the Bentley SUV was going in to production and would guarantee employment for the next 14 years. But it is a big deal.

Audi Q5 due next year: Autoweek Magazine

Audi will offer a hybrid version of its Q5 premium SUV in the US starting in late 2010, says Wolfgang Hatz, head of powertrain development for the Volkswagen group. If the car is a success in the US, Audi said it may launch it in Europe. In an interview at the auto show here last month, Hatz said Audi must offer a hybrid model to compete with rival vehicles that already offer the technology, such as the Lexus RX 400h.

Aston Martin drops Cygnet city car

Autocar is reporting that the diminutive Aston Martin Cygnet has been dropped from the company’s portfolio. The automaker, now owned by Prodrive and private equity firm Invenstindustrial, will focus on its “core product range,” also known as “good cars.” Autocar posits that the justification for the Cygnet was to continue producing V8 and V12 cars, while keeping its average CO2 emissions down. The Cygnet shared bones with the Toyota iQ city car and used a 97-hp, 1.3-liter engine and got 58.9 mpg using the U.S.