1985-89 General Motors Valve Cover Set on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

Ford Fusion

NAIAS saw the unveiling of Ford's new Fusion sedan. By adopting the global 'One Ford' design language, Ford is hoping the midsized sedan will build on its D-segment sales with just one product, with this car also replacing the European-market Mondeo. The Fusion is the first production car to adopt the Kinetic 2.0 design language debuted by the EVOS concept at Frankfurt in 2011.

Toyota uses cash offers in bid to get rolling

Coming off a sharp sales decline in December, Toyota Division is trying to lure buyers into showrooms with new cash offers for customers and dealers. Even the Prius is getting support, after having been excluded from the brand's lavish incentive program in the last quarter of 2008. Toyota put $750 in dealer cash on the hood of the hybrid car.