00-05 Accent Sedan 06 Hatchback Driver Side Left Front Hood Hinge on 2040-parts.com

Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo sedan and wagon debut at Frankfurt motor show

Leave it to BMW's most pinstripe-stickered tuner to come up with a car just for automotive journalists. That's right: Alpina has built a diesel BMW 3-series sedan and wagon duo and has taken them to the Frankfurt motor show to taunt scribes whose countries will probably not be getting them, and that likely includes the U.S. Even though the D3 Bi-Turbo is diesel powered, fuel economy was not the first thing on Alpina's mind.

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the world

It’s a big feather in Ford’s cap and vindication of their ‘One Ford’ global product strategy, which has finally seen Ford realise that the world wants the cars it makes and designs in Europe. Focus sales rose in the US by 40 per cent in 2012 (a market Ford would have declared completely unsuitable for a relatively compact European hatch a decade ago) and China accounted for a massive one in four of all Focus sold, a rise of 51 per cent, making the Focus the best-selling passenger car in China. Not only did the Focus take the best selling car (actually, best selling nameplate), the Ford Fiesta did well to, coming in sixth on Polk’s list with a not insignificant 723,130 registrations around the world.

Insurance changes to make shopping around easier

DRIVERS renewing their car insurance could find it easier to shop around or haggle for a discount under new proposals set out by insurers. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said it has written to the City regulator, suggesting that new minimum standards of information should be set across the market. The standards would mean that renewal documents for motor and home buildings and contents insurance would include the premium that the customer started the year paying alongside their renewal quote, so that they could be compared more easily.