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Beanz Meanz More Eco-Friendly Future Fords

THE car industry is full of interesting and unusual business partnerships, but this latest tie-up between Ford and Heinz promises to be one of the more intriguing. Far from seeking to produce 57 varieties of any particular new Ford model, the two firms are exploring the use of tomato fibre to develop a sustainable composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing. For example, boffins believe that dried tomato skins could become the wiring brackets in future Ford vehicles or the storage bin a customer uses to hold coins and other small objects.

MG3: Shanghai Motor Show

The MG3 SuperMini for Europe is a titivated version of the MG3 the Chinese market gets, complete with a decent dose of flair and additional equipment and cosmetic enhancements to make it more appealing to Western tastes. That means hockey stick shaped LED running lights across the range, black A-pillars, mesh grill (well, mesh slit at the front), dual colour side skirts, dual colour alloys and a rear valance MG say was inspired by generations of MG sports cars. Although only 4 metres long, MG say the MG3 offer space inside that matches or beats all competition (room for  four six-footers they reckon) and gets a ‘rolled and raised’ dash that accentuates the space on offer and sculpted backs to the front seats to help space in the rear.

UK roads slide in global satisfaction survey

THE UK has slipped yet further down a league table of roads quality, according to data released in the 2013-14 World Economic Forum report. Having previously sat in an already meagre 24th place, the UK has fallen to 28th, equal to Namibia – and the Republic of Ireland. The study, which is based on people’s perceptions of their own country’s infrastructure, highlights growing dissatisfaction among the British people regarding the state of the road network.