Ignition Reluctor-distributor Reluctor Standard Lx-104 on 2040-parts.com

First Sight: Smart Fortwo and Forfour

"Dress-down Wednesday," remarked a colleague as Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche walked on stage wearing jeans and no tie. While it was a hot day in Berlin, Zetsche's excuse for his informal attire was the occasion – the new Smart is here. Its prospective owners, he explained – young, urban consumers with an active lifestyle, not the typical members of corporate Germany – adhere to a different, if similarly rigid etiquette.

Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying: Webber takes pole for Red Bull

Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying: Webber takes pole for Red Bull It’s been a long time since Mark Webber took pole position in a Grand Prix, but luck was on the side of the seemingly perpetually unlucky Webber as a KERS problem took the edge of Vettel’s speed in Suzuka this morning. Webber ended up beating his team mate by 0.174 seconds to take his first pole of the 2013 F1 season and make this the first time he’s out qualified Vettel this year too. Behind the Red Bull pair, Lewis Hamilton took third place for Mercedes with Romain Grosjean giving Lotus a fourth place on the grid.

Mercedes-Benz axes Maybach

High ranking Mercedes-Benz sources have confirmed to Autoweek that the underperforming Maybach brand will be officially killed off in 2013. The decision to disband Mercedes-Benz’s upper luxury marque comes after a decade of disappointing sales for the Maybach 57 and 62 and a recent decision from the German car maker’s chairman Dieter Zetsche not to push ahead with the development replacement models – the likes of which were tentatively due out in 2014 – owing to what one insider describes as a “positive move to focus greater attention on the Mercedes-Benz brand” . “We’ve come to the conclusion that it is better to cut our losses with Maybach than to continue into an uncertain future with a brand that has failed to live up to original sales expectations," the insider said.