Allison Shift Selector 23048153 New (sku #517 / D 1-6) on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: 1956 Jaguar XK-140, CNG and bad-driver fines

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- A 1918 Sinclair gas station in New Orleans has been transformed into a 2000-square-foot vacation rental.

Audi A7 Sportback (2010) first official pictures

This is the new Audi A7 Sportback, a sleek hatchback designed to take on the next-generation Mercedes CLS and the forthcoming BMW Gran Coupe. It’s a bigger brother to the already established A5 Sportback, and underneath the five-door skin is the same platform that will underpin next year’s more sedate A6 saloon. Audi claims the A7 Sportback offers the sporty elegance of a coupe, the comfort of a sedan and the practicality of an estate, though if you just want either of the last two an A6 saloon and Avant based on the same platform will appear in 2011.

More on Alfa Romeo's rear-drive strategy

The revised Alfa Romeo plan that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is expected to announce next April focuses on a new, still unnamed rear-wheel- and all-wheel-drive architecture. A key aim of the new plan is to boost Alfa's global presence. "With our current segment coverage and our geographical footprint, we compete in about 5 percent of the global market," Alfa's European boss, Louis-Carl Vignon, said in an interview.