Dorman 615-183 Intake Manifold on 2040-parts.com

Autoweek in review: What you might have missed

At the start of the week, Kia announced that it will launch a rear-wheel-drive sedan code-named the KH in the first half of 2012. U.S.-based press officials wouldn't comment on whether the KH would come stateside, despite a 36 percent increase in U.S. Kia sales in 2011.

David Brown Automotive Speedback UK debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed (video)

The David Brown Automotive Speedback (above) gets its UK debut at the Goodwood FoS The reveal of the David Brown Automotive Speedback was a pleasant surprise. We’d expected the Speedback to be yet another take on the E-Type – based as it is on the underpinnings of the still very able Jaguar XKR – but instead it was a proper classic GT car that looks much like a classic Aston Martin from the 1960s – think DB5/DB6. Glorious though a DB5 or DB6 is to own, a lot of the time they’re more a work of art to covet than a car you can drive every day.

Mercedes CLA driving Mercedes-Benz new car sales

New Mercedes CLA (pictured) is driving Mercedes-Benz new car sales Mercedes had a rocky road a few years ago as it changed its focus from quality to cost-cutting, so the decision by Mercedes to move in to more compact premium cars in a serious way can’t have been the easiest decision to make regardless of the rising demand for compact premium cars. But Mercedes decision and investment is now starting to reap big rewards as Mercedes start moving from an investment in to a sales cycle, with sales of their new compact cars – the new A-Class and new CLA – proving to be a real driving force. Mercedes is the UK has made all time record sales in the UK in 2013, reaching 100,000 car sales for the first time in a year, and managing that by the end of November (which in itself was the best November Mercedes had ever had in the UK).