Hayes 81726 Blackbird Brake Control on 2040-parts.com

Take your driving test – at Halfords

Plans have been announced to extend practical driving test centres in to Halfords stores, starting with Wellingborough on February 5th. At the moment, there are around 400 driving test centres in the UK where you can take the practical part of your driving test, but that’s about to change with the news that Halfords – the car accessories chain – is to start offering driving tests. Halfords stores around the UK are expected to start offering test facilities after Road Safety Minister, Stephen Hammond, gave the go ahead for to extend driving test in to local stores to give learners more choice.

Ford cuts 2010 prices by up to 15%

Ford has cut prices of its big cars by up to 15% By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 26 March 2010 12:00 Ford today announced sweeping price cuts across its large car range – lopping up to 15% off the price of models such as the Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy. The news comes after Ford raised price four times in the past year.The Blue Oval has drawn criticism in the past for artificially high list prices, which have penalised business buyers. In the UK, company car tax is calculated by the P11D price which is based on the list price, not the transaction price, and 70% of large Fords are bought by fleets.Private buyers have historically scored large discounts on big Fords, as did corporate buyers – making many question the need for higher list prices.

Whos Where: Pierre Castinel is Head of Design at Tata

Indian automaker Tata has been front page news often in recent times, first because of the impressive one-lakh Nano, which changes the automotive industry playing field, and most recently because of its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford's Premiere Automotive Group for the tidy sum of $2.3 billion - less than half what Ford paid for both companies in 1989.  At the helm of Tata's design efforts is Pierre Castinel, Head of Design. Though only officially announced in March this year, Castinel has been active at Tata since he left Renault in summer 2007, a company he worked at for 20 years. Castinel started as a modeler for Peugeot and worked there for three years.