[40]arctic Cat Exhaust Manifold Seal; Part #: 0612-528 on 2040-parts.com

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.

Hyundai increases its European Market share by 10%

Despite a weak car sales market across Europe, Hyundai has managed to increase its market share in January 2013 by almost 10 per cent. As we reported just the other day, the European car market is in a bit of a mess with sales down by 9.6% in January 2013 and even the mighty sales of the VW Golf – Europe’s best-selling car – dropping by 17.8 per cent. But despite the European car market falling back, Hyundai has managed to increase its market share in Europe by almost 10 per cent, from 3.3 per cent in January 2012 to 3.6 per cent in January 2013.

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.