08-13 Nissan Altima Passenger Dash Airbag Air Bag Oem on 2040-parts.com

First Sight: Mercedes-Benz SL

The new high-tech, low weight Mercedes SL roadster receives its official global unveil next week in Detroit but Car Design News got an early peek of the final production car and had a chat with its designers at Mercedes' US advanced design studio in Carlsbad, California back in November. "We want to get back to clean, long-lasting design," director of Mercedes global advanced design and SL project leader, Steffen Kohl told CDN at the exclusive preview of the sixth-generation model. "So the new SL is long, sleek and still full of tension in the feature lines but less wedgy." In a short presentation Kohl felt all SLs became successfully iconic in their times because they followed two key rules – ‘sensuality' and ‘cleanness' – but alluded that the first rule may have been lost in more recent eras.

New Renault Clio comes with Va Va Voom Button (+ video)

Renault UK has produced adverts for the new 2013 Renault Clio that feature a ‘Va Va Voom’ button to transport UK drivers to the heart of Paris. Mired in the problems of over-capacity, a stroppy workforce and a world that has fallen out of love with mainstream hatches, the new Clio needs to sell. And sell well.

New Ford Mondeo ECOnetic announced

Ford has introduced a 2.0 litre version of the Mondeo ECOnetic We wouldn’t for a minute expect Ford to take the slightest bit of notice of us, but they have announced the launch of a second Ford Mondeo ECOnetic toady – this time an even ‘Greener’ version – so they’re going in the right direction! The new Ford Mondeo ECOnetic sports a 2.0 litre, 115bhp diesel engine which achieves a remarkable 54.3mpg (and remember, the Mondeo weighs in at over 1500kg). It manages to slip in to the sub 140g/km CO2 bracket – making it VED (Band E- £120pa)  and company car tax friendly – and comes as either a saloon or estate.