Mercedes Benz C240 C320 C32 Slk32 Clk320 Clk500 Clk55 C55 Brake Fluid Reservoir on 2040-parts.com

(Gas) Tax Day: How much are you paying?

Today is April 18, also known as Tax Day in the United States. Since we're car enthusiasts and not accountants, we decided to ignore the half-finished 1040 on the kitchen table and take a look at a tax that means a lot more to us--the gas tax. The gas tax is the portion of every gallon that pays for road maintenance and other transportation projects.

Opel leaving China, but planning a car for the US

General Motors' Opel is withdrawing from China after several years of declining sales, with the last vehicles slated to be exported from Germany in January 2015. Opel managed to sell only 4,365 cars in China in all of 2013, compared to a staggering 810,000 Buicks, GM's most popular division in China. The lackluster sales and the planned withdrawal from China highlighted the unique demands of the Chinese domestic market, where Buick now offers almost twice the number of models as in the U.S.

Beanz Meanz More Eco-Friendly Future Fords

THE car industry is full of interesting and unusual business partnerships, but this latest tie-up between Ford and Heinz promises to be one of the more intriguing. Far from seeking to produce 57 varieties of any particular new Ford model, the two firms are exploring the use of tomato fibre to develop a sustainable composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing. For example, boffins believe that dried tomato skins could become the wiring brackets in future Ford vehicles or the storage bin a customer uses to hold coins and other small objects.