2003-2007 Ford High Pressure Oil Pump on 2040-parts.com

Fiat to spend big, dump the Punto & revive flagging fortunes by going upmarket

Fiat Punto to be axed as Fiat moves upmarket Fiat are having a very rocky ride as the Italian economy lurchges from one crisis to another. But Sergio Marchionne has a plan to put Fiat back on track. Spending of €9 billion over the next three years is planned to revive production in Italy, rationalise the Fiat range and continue to push upmarket with Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

Book Review: Cosmic Motors

It is the year 8966-B in Galaxion, a distant galaxy where Daniel Simon has spent the past two years creating visions for the Cosmic Motors brand. Beginning with the Camarudo ‘one-person motion device', the former VW designer puts aside gravity to find unique forms for future vehicles, accompanied by excellent narration that develops the CoMo story and describes the techniques he used. All the vehicles in this stellar catalogue have been made into digital models with Autodesk AliasStudio - and the results are simply stunning.

(Another) Audi A3 e-tron hybrid at Geneva 2013

The Audi A3 e-tron – a hybrid A3 EV based on the A3 Sportback – will debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show as a concept. This Audi A3 e-tron isn’t a pointless electric supercar – like the R8 e-tron – or another rollout of the A3 e-tron BEV, but a hybrid A3 with a proper ICE engine coupled to an electric motor, just like the A3 e-tron concept we saw in Shanghai in 2011 That still means a lot of complicated and heavy technology to game the silly official economy tests and come up with ‘official’ economy figures of 158mpg and 35g/km, but the A3 e-tron would – if it were made – offer big tax breaks for company car drivers. The A3 e-tron gets a 1.4 litre direct injection petrol engine good for 148bhp working with an electric motor good for an extra 100bhp.