Blog on 2040Parts

New finance deals for Mercedes

MERCEDES has introduced new finance offers on parts of the A-Class, C-Class and E-Class ranges. The A-Class benefits from three years’ free servicing, as well as low interest PCP finance packages at a rate of 5.5%. The deal means that an A180 SE is available for £249 per month over three years with a deposit of £2,743.

UK pays £30 million a month in parking fines

British motorists are paying out a massive £30 million in parking fines every month, according to Freedom Of Information data obtained by LV= car insurance. So far in 2013, councils have handed out over 890,000 tickets a month – an increase of 4% on 2012 figures. The huge £30 million total is based on the UK average parking fine of £42.

Mercedes S-Class Convertible confirmed

The Mercedes S-Class Convertible will be based on the S-Class Coupe (pictured) The new Mercedes S-Class has already arrived, and we’ve also got the new S-Class Coupe (in concept form, at least) with the next variant of the new S-Class now looking likely to be the Mercedes S-Class Convertible. We’ve known since 2011 that Mercedes were planning to chop the top off the S-Class for the first time since the W111 S-Class in the 1960s, but this is the first time anyone from Mercedes has officially confirmed it. Thomas Weber, Mercedes’ product development boss, has told Automotive News that the S-Class Convertible is on the way and will be based on the new S-Class Coupe.

Mini reveals tech details for new 2013 Mini Cooper

By Ollie Kew Motor Industry 29 September 2013 23:01 Mini has announced that the imminent replacement for the current model will sport an all-new range of three- and four-cylinder engines, adaptive suspension, and marry chuckable handling with better comfort and refinement. The Mini Vision concept (pictured) shows what the new car will look like when it arrives in November 2013. There are some big promises here, but can the Mini maintain its runaway popularity a more than decade after BMW revived the brand and created a whole new class of posh, premium-priced city cars? Read on for more details. What’s been said about the new Mini Cooper’s engines?

London is parking charge capital of the world

We already know London is home to more multimillionaires than any other city in the world, but given the cost of living in our capital, this is hardly surprising. And now, to further highlight London’s increasingly extravagant status, it turns out it’s the most expensive place in the world to park your car as well. On Bing: see pictures of car parks in London UK car parks now accepting conkers as payment.

MINI confirms details of engines for new 2014 Cooper and Cooper S

MINI MINI has confirmed a slew of technical details for the next-generation MINI family, the first of which will be shown later in autumn 2013. A mix of three- and four-cylinder engines will be available in the new MINI, all sporting the latest tech to keep the brand's fun quotient up and fuel consumption and emissions down. So turbocharging is common across the range, and petrol engines employ direct fuel injection for precise metering of unleaded.

Volkswagen give the VW XL1 Ducati power

Volkswagen give the VW XL1 Ducati power It’s more than two years since Volkswagen rolled out the VW XL1 Super Efficient Vehicle as a demonstration of how light weight and low power can make for extremely economical motoring. But the silly mpg VW quoted for the XL1 – 313mpg – comes at a fairly horrible price, with the news at Geneva this year that the XL1 is heading for limited production, but with a price tag likely to be around £100k. Bit it seems that VW has found a new use for the XL1, and this time it’s not about extreme economy but more about real performance.

Porsche Macan to debut at Los Angeles – gets V6 turbo petrol

The dealer presentation for the new Porsche Macan The Porsche Macan – Porsche’s take on a smaller version of the Cayenne to tap in to the more compact SUV market – will arrive at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November and get V6 turbo power. Jalopnik has managed to get photos of a dealer presentation of the Porsche Macan which confirms its arrival at Los Angeles and also gives us some detail of what will power the new smaller Porsche SUV. We’re not entirley sure the photo Porsche used in the presentation is the actual Macan (Jalopnik think Porsche has used a render by Auti Bild to muddy the waters for their dealers – just in case the presentation leaks) but it does seem clear that Porsche, at l;east initially, aims to provide the Macan with decent levels of Porsche power.

Land Rover can’t keep up with demand for Range Rover & Range Rover Sport

There’s a 9 month waiting list for the new Range Rover Sport (pictured) The Range Rover has been a big success for Land Rover in recent years, and the launch of the new Range Rover last year – even with big price rises – has seen demand soar to unprecedented levels. Good news for JLR. To add to that, the arrival of the all new Range Rover Sport – this time based on the new Range Rover instead of the old Discovery – has seen the RRS turn from a footballers wife’s car in to a proper sporty SUV, one that can take on the likes of the Porsche Cayenne and BMW X5 on-road and obliterate them off-road.

Has Aston Martin axed the Cygnet?

Aston Martin Cygnet axed? There was a certain logic to the Aston Martin Cygnet. After all, makers of luxury and supercars do need to find a way to trim their average Co2 emissions across their range, and there’s a potential market for a pretend Aston Martin for ‘er indoors.

Concept Car of the Week: Honda Unibox (2001)

The Tokyo motor show is famous for unusual concepts and the 2001 edition didn't disappoint, featuring some of the weirdest yet. Nissan unveiled the Nails, Toyota its Pod and Isuzu the Zen, but Honda had arguably the most intelligent concept there – the Unibox. With its square shape, truss aluminum frame, wooden floor and flat, glazed walls the Unibox sits on the fence between automobile and architecture.

2013 Chrysler 300 John Varvatos limited edition to be auctioned at Cattle Baron's Ball

The newly remodeled Cobo Center will host the 11th annua lAmerican Cancer Society Cattle Baron's Ball this Saturday with Chrysler as the presenting sponsor. Over the past decade, the event has raised over $10 million to help with efforts to combat cancer and to support those currently battling the disease. The American Cancer Society is marking its 100th anniversary.

Range Rover Sport RS caught on video at Nurburgring

Range Rover Sport RS caught on video at Nurburgring The new Range Rover Sport is only just starting to fin its way on toi the road after its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, but Land Rover are already planning a more potent version – the Range Rover Sport RS. The ‘RRSRS’ is Land Rover’s answer to cars like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S and comes equipped with the same supercharged V8 as the new XJR, XFR-S and XKR-S, offering around 542bhp, which should give the already very able Range Rover Sport proper supercar performance – something in the region of 4.5 seconds 0-60mph seems likely. Despite the Range Rover Sport RS blatting round the Nurburgring with a fair degree of swirly camouflage, you can already see it’s getting a new front bumper with bigger intakes and a redesign to the back bumper too.

Tesla Model S EV the best-selling car in Norway

Tesla Model S EV (pictured) is the best-selling car in Norway We’ve already seen that the Tesla Model S electric car is out-performing many luxury cars in the US, and with reviews of the Tesla S finding very little not to like it seems strong Tesla S sales are a trend that will continue. But it’s one thing taking on low-selling, high-end cars, and quite another becoming the best-selling car bar none in a given market, but that’s exactly what Tesla has achieved in Norway in the first few weeks of September. Admittedly, Norway’s car market isn’t huge, but the Tesla Model S managed to move in to buyers hands in Norway in the first two weeks of September at a quicker rate than even the regular VW Golf, selling 322 compared to the Golf’s 256.

Cadillac ATS and Tesla Model S make final five in Innovation By Design Award's 'Transportation' category

Cadillac's ATS and the Tesla Model S are among the five finalists bidding to win the ‘Transportation' category at this year's Innovation by Design Awards, which celebrates groundbreaking designs from the past year. Established last year by design magazine Fast Company, the awards consist of eight different categories – 2D Design, Products, Interactive Experience, Transportation, Spaces, Social Good, Concepts and Student Design – and this year saw over 1,200 submissions from all over the world, from corporations all the way down to individuals' designs. After a jury of 24 experts from all design disciplines – including J Mays, Ford's vice president of design and chief creative officer – whittled them down to just 54 designs, the Cadillac ATS and the Tesla Model S are battling for their category award against three other designs from 2013.

One Lap of the Web: Porsche product planning secrets leaked, a visit Ferrari factory circa 1988 and the $30 million Chevy Nova

-- A Porsche insider might have just leaked all of the German automaker's big reveals for the next few years if a photo posted at Jalopnik can be trusted. There aren't any real earth-shakers here, but be on the lookout for a Boxster and Cayman GTS, the Macan and an old-school targa top for the 911http://edit.autoweek.com/apps/pbcsedit.dll/red# at the next few auto shows. -- How much is a '75 Chevrolet Nova worth to you?

2015 Ford F-series Super Duty gets updated Power Stroke diesel

Ford spotlighted an improved 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbodiesel as it introduced its 2015 F-Series Super Duty lineup at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. Among the vehicles Ford showed: -- An updated version of the Super Duty King Ranch edition with a Texas theme. -- A freshened version of the F-450 Super Duty with a beefed up frame, suspension and commercial-grade 19.5-inch wheels and tires.

Used car sales return to pre-recession levels

As the UK’s buoyant new car sales figures continue to buck the European trend, it was only a matter of time before this had a positive knock-on effect on sales of used cars. Now, according to figures released in the latest BCA Used Car Market Report, used car sales hit 7.1 million last year, outpacing new car sales by 6.4% and, even more crucially, returning to pre-recession levels. Best used car buys for 2013 On Bing: see pictures of used cars In fact, a record £38.1 billion worth of used cars were sold in 2012, £5.8 billion more than was spent on new cars.

Tyre-related deaths show slight fall

FIGURES released today have revealed a slight fall in the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by dangerous tyres. The 2012 figure of 194 ‘killed of seriously injured’ (KSI) incidents represents a 5% fall from 2011, and includes a drop in fatalities of three, from 28 to 25. Serious injuries fell from 177 to 169.

Webinars: Register now for 16 October 'Autodesk Alias Class-A Surfacing: Accelerating Design Development'

Registration is now open for the next Webinar in the Autodesk series, 'Autodesk Alias Class-A Surfacing: Accelerating Design Development', which will take place on 16 October. This webinar will illustrate how using Autodesk Alias for Class-A modeling can deliver value-added business and technical benefits and how it helps OEMs provide seamless end-to-end design development. Topics covered will include: external and internal challenges facing automotive design advantages of Alias for Class-A Surfacing how to adopt Alias skills and workflows This is part of the 2013 series of Autodesk Webinars which includes: Concept modeling for automotive Using the T-rig tool in real life Presenting this Webinar is Simon Alford, technical manager for Majenta Solutions.

Equus Bass 770: America’s all-new muscle car

What you’re looking at here is quite possibly the ultimate ‘pony car’ – a brand-new slab of American muscle heavily tinged with retro flair, six years in the making. It’s called the Equus Bass 770, it’s powered by a 640hp 6.2-litre suprecahrged V8, and you can buy one priced from $253,000. Which is around £157,000.

Lister cars back from the dead

The ‘Cars from Cambridge’ are coming back! OK, so Cambridge doesn’t quite have the same impact as say Detroit or Maranello, but Lister Cars deserves its place in the UK automotive hall of fame. On Bing: see pictures of Lister cars Top 20 cars with V12 engines Two things – or more specifically, cars – immediately spring to mind when thinking about Lister.

Supermarkets slash fuel prices

SUPERMARKETS are slashing fuel prices again. In the latest round of cuts, Sainsbury's is reducing its petrol by up to 6p a litre and its diesel by up to 4p a litre. This means customers will pay no more than 129.9p a litre for petrol and 136.9p for diesel, with the reductions taking place from today.

Road accidents' annual cost '£34bn'

THE TOTAL ANNUAL COST of road accidents, including the human suffering as well as the medical bills, could be more than £34 billion, according to Government estimates. Latest figures show that British road accidents that were reported in 2012 cost an estimated £15.12 billion. This included damage-only accidents but did not allow for unreported injury accidents.

CCTV parking fines could be banned

COUNCILS in England could be banned from using CCTV cameras and "spy cars" to impose parking fines on motorists under new government proposals. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said he wants to curb "overzealous" local authorities which use cameras to maximise their income from parking fines. He warned that public support for CCTV could be undermined if people believed they were being used to generate revenue rather than preventing crime.

Petrol sales '25% lower than 2008'

Petrol sales have plunged in the first half of this year – but diesel sales have risen sharply. Retail petrol sales for the period January to June dipped 5.8% compared with the same period last year, Government figures highlighted by the AA showed. The numbers amount to a fall of 512 million litres.

BMW's new M engine needs a better voice

BMW's M division claims its new twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine is every bit as good -- if not better -- than the glorious, naturally aspirated 4.0-liter V8 powerplant it replaces in the new M3 sedan and M4 coupe. The figures are certainly impressive. They say it kicks out 424 hp and more than 25 percent extra torque, with what is described as significantly more than 369 lb-ft below 2,000 rpm.

Rojas to drive in La Carrera Panamericana

Three-time Rolex Daytona 24 and four-time (so far) Grand-Am champion Memo Rojas Jr. will return to his native Mexico Oct. 25-31 to race in the historic La Carrera Panamericana.

Vauxhall heads off-road with Insignia Country Tourer

VAUXHALL'S new Insignia Country Tourer will cost from £25,349 when it arrives in the UK in January hot on the heels of the revised Insignia hatch and estate models. The Country Tourer is a soft-roader version of the Insignia Sports Tourer estate model and has an added 30mm of ground clearance, as well as front and rear underbody protection to help on rough tracks. Vauxhall has also fitted the car with extra protective covers for the wheelarches and body sides.

The world’s quickest fast food delivery vehicle

Only in Dubai would you find a Jaguar XJ220 being used for fast food deliveries. This land of supercar excess will see an XJ220 deliver burgers, fries and shakes across the Emirate state. The car will be used by Mooyah, a posh new burger chain opening in Dubai’s Battuta mall.