Wheels: Wheelies: The Back in British Hands Edition

TVR TVR used to build cars like the Sagaris, pictured here. The company’s new owner hopes to guide the company back to producing sports cars, although he hasn’t announced when that will happen.

In which we bring you motoring news from around the Web:

• The British sports car maker TVR appears to have been resurrected, according to a report from BBC’s “Top Gear.” Les Edgar, the English entrepreneur who bought the marque from its previous Russian owner, promised that TVR – which had come close to lending its name to wind turbines after not producing new cars – will remain a car company. Mr. Edgar didn’t say when the company would begin producing cars, but a slogan on the company’s Web site is suggestive: Roaring Back. (Top Gear)

• Chrysler announced Monday that the starting price for the all-new Jeep Cherokee will be $23,990 – $300 less than that of the 2012 Jeep Liberty. The top-of-the-line Cherokee, the Limited 4×4, will start at $30,990, which, like the price of its lesser sibling, includes shipping. The original Cherokee, which sold in the United States from its 1984 introduction until Chrysler pulled the plug in 2001, is entirely different from the new model. The 2014 Cherokee features a bold new look and is a first-ever collaboration between Jeep and its Italian parent company, Fiat. (Automotive News)

• There’s nothing quite like horror movie shock to get one’s attention, or so goes the reasoning behind a new anti-drunken driving public service announcement in Britain. As of Monday evening, the YouTube version of England’s Department for Transport-sponsored ad, called #PublicLooShocker, had garnered more than 4.2 million views. Its message is simple: drinking and driving can kill people. The point is driven home by pub patrons being scared half to death in a bathroom when a bloody face smashes through the mirror, much as one would through a windshield in a severe collision. The video was filmed with actors, but the effect is chilling. (Huffington Post)

• According to a report from The Los Angeles Times, tire rental is a burgeoning business that has many motorists paying a lot more for tires than they would by buying rubber up front. For some, the bite of the recession still stings, leading them to make hard choices. With average annual incomes down and the price of tires up, some families say they have no choice but to rent tires to keep vehicles they use to get to work on the road. The problem is, reports The Times, that renting tires as opposed to buying them can make their cost double or even triple. But with many consumers unable to qualify for traditional lines of credit, the rent-to-own industry is on the rise. (Jalopnik)

• Mercedes-Benz has challenged the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time of the Audi R8 e-tron with its all-electric Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive. Completing the loop in 7:56.234, Mercedes has taken away Audi’s production E.V. record, and, as far as electric cars go, is second only to the Radical-based Toyota Motorsport EV P002, which is not a production car. Mercedes’s electric supercar will be available to very wealthy customers – Autoblog says it costs more than $550,000 – this summer. (Autoblog)