Visteon Alternators/starters 3154 Starter-reman Starter on 2040-parts.com

End of the road for Mercury

Mercury has stood for hot-rodding, performance, style and even feminine appeal during various points in its 72-year history. But ultimately, the failure to stand alone in the Ford Motor Co.'s family of brands spelled its demise. Mercury, a brand founded by company scion Edsel Ford, will be shuttered as Ford concentrates its efforts on the core Ford brand and luxury-level Lincolns.

McLaren Automotive First Anniversary: 1,000 McLaren MP4-12C sold and counting

McLaren Automotive is a year old and is celebrating selling over 1,000 McLaren MP4-12Cs in the first twelve months. It’s actually a bit more than  three years since Ron Dennis announced the formation of McLaren Automotive, which had a live launch on Cars UK on 18th March 2010. But McLaren don’t seem to acknowledge that date as the start of McLaren Automotive but instead prefer the date the first MP4-12C was sold – exactly one year ago today on June 21st 2011.

Sebastian Loeb smashes Pikes Peak record in Peugeot 208 T16 (video)

Sebastian Loeb smashes Pikes Peak record in Peugeot 208 T16 (pictured) This weekend saw the Pikes Peak hillcimb action, with powerful cars tackling the more than 12 mile course, with all its twists and turns, in a thrilling spectacle. But no spectacle was more thrilling that the run by Sebastian Loeb in the Peugeot 208 T16. The Peugeot 208 T16 (which bears about as much resemblance to your 208 as Loeb’s driving does to your Granny’s) gets a 3.2 litre twin turbo V6 with 875bhp, enough to hit 62mph in a scant 1.8 seconds and on to 150mph.