Standard Motor Products Sc148 Speed Sensor on 2040-parts.com

BMW-Toyota partnership may yield hybrid Z4, new Supra

The BMW-Toyota sports-car lash-up has been reported on for a couple of years now, but new information from a report in the U.K.'s Autocar sheds more light on the future of the BMW Z4 and what this year's Toyota FT-1 concept will ultimately herald. Like the current Z4, its predecessor and the Z3 before it, as well as every generation of Supra, the new platform will feature a front-mounted gasoline engine. From there, things look to be diverging wildly as technology marches forward.

Jaguar EATS Mercedes ‘Magic Body Control’ Chicken (video)

Jaguar EATS Mercedes ‘Magic Body Control’ Chicken Mercedes-Benz recently produced a fun video to demonstrate their Magic Body Control using a bunch of chickens to show how, despite undulations, bumps and potholes, MBC would keep everything in shape. The video of the ‘Magic Body Control Chickens’ was a rare glimpse at German humour (although the humour may well have been an accident) and a great way to demonstrate MBC. But we wonder if Mercedes sense of humour will stay intact with Jaguar’s latest video?

Feds: Backup cameras in all new cars by 2018

The U.S. Department of Transportation today finalized a set of federal standards for rear visibility that will require all new vehicles under 10,000 pounds to have backup cameras by mid-2018. Congress called for the rules in 2008 after a spate of accidents in which parents driving cars or trucks backed over their young children, killing them.