Oxygen Sensor-oe Style Left Bosch 17357 on 2040-parts.com

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.

Film Friday: A Wonderful New World of Fords has descended from the heavens!

In a day when every automaker seems to be eager to latch on to the smallest details -- a few pounds of weight shaved here and there, some silly feature designed to keep you and your family protected in an accident, a flashier infotainment setup -- to sell their product, this 1960 Ford spot is a breath of fresh air. There's none of this oh-so-carefully hedged “our cars are pretty OK!” nonsense in this spot for the 1960 Thunderbird, Falcon and Galaxie. There's nary a world about fuel economy (OK, one mention -- the Falcon supposedly gets up to 30 mpg).

Update: Google's robot car is like driving an elevator

Welcome to the future everyone, you may now release all worries, and all control. Google has released photos and video of its first self-driving vehicle, and a Ferrari 458 it ain't. The car pod people mover has no steering wheel, no gas pedal and no brakes.