Yamaha Xs400 Rear Dampers / Shock Absorbers on 2040-parts.com

Top Indian cars fail crash safety tests

SEVERAL of India's most popular small cars have failed independent crash tests, a global car safety watchdog said. David Ward, head of the London car-safety watchdog Global NCAP, which performed the crash tests, said the car industry in India lacked adequate safeguards. Four of five small cars popular on the Indian market last year, including the famous Tata Nano, failed the crash tests.

Quirky finance deal for anniversary Alfa Giulietta

CHECK this out for inflation: to celebrate 60 years since the launch of the original Giulietta, Alfa Romeo is offering a finance deposit contribution equivalent to the outright purchase price of the original car. The stunning 1954 Giulietta sold for £1,250, which is precisely what Alfa is offering buyers of the 2014 model if they take out a PCP finance deal and meet a few basic criteria. What’s more, a new £510 Lunar Pearl colour option will be thrown into the bargain for customers taking up the deal in the 60th anniversary celebration window.

First Sight: Mercedes-AMG GT

“If I was to buy any sports car that wasn't a Mercedes, it'd be a Porsche 911,” says Mercedes' head of design, Gorden Wagener. “But when you see the two cars together, we think ours has the edge.” He's talking about the new Mercedes-AMG GT, a front-mid engined, two-seater sports car that's unashamedly aimed at higher-end 911s, and we've come to see it at Mercedes' Sindelfingen studio.  The GT replaces the larger SLS, and is seen by Wagener as the best example yet of his 'sensual purity' design philosophy: “The SLS is very much [he gestures] line, line with a surface in between. With the GT we started with the surface and worked to refine and reduce the number of lines.” Elements of the SLS's platform have been carried over, so the GT measures the same 1,939mm wide.