Marpac Stainless Steel Strap Hinges 1" X 4" (pair) on 2040-parts.com

BMW pushes back the U.S. debut of the X1 until the end of 2012

BMW will not offer its compact X1 crossover in the United States until the end of 2012 because of strong demand for the redesigned version of the larger X3. Also, the X1 is selling well outside the United States so supplies are tight, said Jim O'Donnell, CEO of BMW of North America. The X1 was launched in Europe in November 2009.

Last-of-the-line Rover Mini Cooper for sale on eBay

The second-generation ‘new’ MINI Cooper may have just gone out of production, but you can still pick up a new one for £14,900. Alternatively you could wait for the third-gen MINI coming later this year, with prices starting from £15,300. But without wishing to sound too much like Chris Tarrant, we don’t want to give you either of those.

2012 Ford Focus ST gets 297bhp

Those clever chaps at SuperChips have given the 2012 Ford Focus ST a bit of an ECU tweak to deliver 297bhp and an extra 85lb/ft of torque. When we reported last week that WTC outfit Arena had in roped Ford’s tuner of choice, Mountune, to give the new Ford Focus a makeover, we were a tad disappointed to discover that they were tweaking the rather journeyman Focus Zetec S. That meant the Zetec S got 200bhp – a handy jump – but we bemoaned the fact that they hadn’t fiddled with the Focus ST to give us a car to fill the void left by the absence of a Focus RS in the current iteration of the Focus.