Ti22 Performance 600 Top Wing Post Chome Plated 4130 Tip3760 on 2040-parts.com

Audi to buy Ducati – the four rings expands from four wheels

Audi has struck an exclusive deal giving it first rights to buy Italian superbike manufacturer Ducati, CAR can reveal.The exclusivity deal gives Audi until mid April when the deal will likely be finalised, according to high-ranking sources contacted by CAR. Ducati's liabilities are around €200 million [earlier report said €800 million, this has been corrected], and our sources suggest the total purchase price is about €250m-€300m. This is a bold move by Audi, which sees the long-term advantage in moving into two wheels as well as four.

2012 Lexus GS Spied

2012 Lexus GS Spied at the Nurburgring It’s not exactly a huge surprise that there’s a 2012 Lexus GS pounding around the Nurburgring in disguise, or that we managed to grab spy photos. Well, there is perhaps the question of ‘Why test a saloon car at the Nurburgring at all?’, but that’s another argument. But after the Lexus LF-Gh got teased ahead of, and then revealed at, the New York Motor Show in the Spring, it was clear Lexus were planning to revamp the GS.

Build your Mini Cooper Hardtop

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do. It's especially satisfying with German automakers — notably Porsche and BMW — who seem to have turned option pricing into something bordering on absurdist theatre.