02-05 Honda Civic Hatchback Si Ep3 Carbon Fiber Fuel Door Gas Lid on 2040-parts.com

Chief engineer of Ford Focus quits to lead German yacht builder

Jens Ludmann, chief program engineer for Ford Motor Co.'s new Focus, is quitting the automaker to head a German-based maker of luxury yachts. Ludmann led a team at Ford's European base in Merkenich, near Cologne, Germany, that developed the Focus, the first car from CEO Alan Mulally's global One Ford strategy and flagship of the company's new range of global C-segment products. The German native, who joined Ford in 2000, will become CEO of Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH, effective Aug.

Ferrari LaFerrari lands in China: Shanghai Motor Show

Ferrari’s hybrid supercar was as eagerly received as it was in Geneva, with a sea of photographers, press and visitors thronging to get a glimpse of what is undeniably an impressive ‘F70′ from Ferrari. But looking good is perhaps the second ‘must have’ for a supercar – especially one that replaces the Enzo – and LaFerrari looks to deliver on the number one priority for most supercar buyers - performance. With 798bhp from its naturally aspirated V12 and an extra 161bhp from its electric motor, LaFerrari promises a dose of green credentials – important, to a degree, on China’s polluted roads – to go with its performance and handling, performance that can see the car it get to 62mph in under 3 seconds and on to a 186mph in an even more impressive 15.5 seconds.

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.