8x Mini Cooper Rocker Clips on 2040-parts.com

Fiat previews the 500X small crossover

Fiat gave an unexpected sneak preview of a crossover variant of its 500 minicar. The model, which will be called the 500X, will go on sale in Europe in early 2014 and shortly after in North America. Fiat brand global boss Olivier Francois showed a full-size styling model of the 500X during the media launch on the 500L small minivan in Turin, Italy, on July 4.

Ford Cortina: 50 years ago today…

Ford are celebrating 50 years since the first Ford Cortina was launched and changed the car landscape forever. The Ford Cortina went on to sell an impressive 4.3 million during its twenty year life, eventually turning in to the Ford Sierra and then in to the Ford family car of today – the 2013 Ford Mondeo (which, interestingly, can be had with the 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine – smaller even than the 1200cc of that first Cortina). That first Cortina was the start of Ford’s dominance of the UK car market, leading to an unbroken run of 35 years as the best selling car brand with most of the Cortinas, almost 3 million of them, built at Dagenham – in the days Ford actually built cars here.

Petrol sales hit record low in July

FEARS of a 4p-a-litre rise in prices at the pumps sent petrol sales crashing to an all-time July low. The rise turned out to be only 1.5p a litre but it led to July petrol consumption dipping to 1.44 billion litres, down nearly 100 million litres on June, according to Government figures highlighted by the AA. The AA said petrol retailers and others had predicted that the UK's average cost of petrol would rise by up to 4p a litre in July.