1969 Corvette Rocker Trim on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes-Benz introduces nine-speed automatic gearbox

Mercedes-Benz has quietly slipped a new nine-speed automatic into its lineup as standard equipment on the European market E350 BlueTec. The new in-house produced unit, known internally under the name 9G-Tronic, has long been slated for selected Mercedes-Benz models. However, its existence was officially denied until the weekend, when Mercedes-Benz's German language website configurator went live with various updates for the E-class lineup -- including an entry signaling the 9G-Tronic is now available on the standard rear-wheel drive E350 BlueTec in place of the older seven-speed.

Volvo XC90 gets a facelift for 2012 – just

2012 Volvo XC90 Facelift - very minor tweaks The Volvo XC90 has been with us for the best part of a decade without any major changes, thanks mainly to Ford pulling the plug on a new XC90 a few years ago. But the outlook is much brighter since the Chinese took the reins at Volvo and we’re certain there’s a new XC90 ready to surface in 2012. But for now Volvo has decided to give the current XC90 a bit of a tweak to take it through to the launch of an all new model.

2013 VW Beetle Convertible arrives

The new 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible has been revealed ahead of a launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The new Beetle Convertible is due to bow in at the LA Auto Show in November  but VW obviously decided it was pragmatic to get an early reveal out of the way before the new Bug soft top trickled on to the Interwebs of its own accord. What we get is what we expected (although we did hold out a little hope the new Beetle Cabriolet would look more like the E-Bugster Cabriolet Concept); a convertible version of the 2012 Beetle with a pram style soft top that sits on the boot.