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Aston Martin Rapide S arrives with 550 horses

Aston Martin is replacing the four-door Rapide with the Rapide S, which gets minor styling tweaks and extra power. Just as they did with the new DB9, Aston Martin has made the new Rapide S a more aggressive car, with small styling tweaks like a new grill and a small spoiler at the back, some minor trim tweaks with the addition of Piano Black trim and a new duotone black and red leather trim, and an optional carbon fibre pack for exterior highlights. Under the skin, the Rapide S is still based on Aston’s VH platform, but it does get the latest Gen 4 tweaks including new adaptive dampers with Normal, Sport and Track modes, tweaked dynamic stability control (DSC) and the latest AM11 engine dropped by 19mm for a lower centre of gravity.

Volkswagen Beetle Dune concept edging towards production

The Volkswagen Beetle Dune frolicking on the beach Back at the Detroit Motor Show in January, the Volkswagen Beetle Dune concept arrived as the perfect accessory for an outdoor lifestyle – especially if you’re in Southern California. Riding higher than a regular Beetle, with big wheels and a rack on the back for surf boards, sand boards or skis, the Beetle Dune Concept looked very close to a production car. Now, with Summer upon us, Volkswagen has released some new photos of the Dune concept frolicking around sunny locations in Germany and pointing firmly towards a production version.

GM's Volt engineer Weber moving to Opel

Frank Weber, the German-born engineer in charge of the Chevrolet Volt, is moving back to Germany to take a senior management role at Opel. He will be replaced by Doug Parks, who has been working at Opel since 2007 as chief engineer for GM's global compact cars, which include the Opel Astra and Chevrolet Cruze. General Motors Co.