2003 Yamaha Warrior Yfm350 Cylinder on 2040-parts.com

MINI London 2012 Edition launches to celebrate Olympic Games

MINI London 2012 Edition - in patriotic red, white or blue The launch of the MINI London 2012 Edition to celebrate the Olympic Games neatly pulls together two of MINI’s marketing tactics; shove out as many limited edition models as you can and give them a London theme. True, this edition of the MINI uses the London moniker intact instead of using a badge from a London area, but it’s consistent with the current MINI special edition target. As is MINI’s aim to cash in on any bit of publicity it can – sometimes tenuously – get a hook on.

SEMA 2008 show report: Volkswagen Passat CC

By Ben Whitworth Motor Shows 07 November 2008 09:00 Volkswagen’s sobriety took a back seat at the SEMA show in Las Vegas this week – it pulled the covers off a pair of muscle-bound Passat CCs, a racy 295bhp Tiguan and a grunty diesel Jetta aimed at cajoling the American market into turning its back on gasoline. The unambiguously named Performance CC – designed by Volkswagen’s California-based design centre – gets a shot in the arm from a three-stage turbo boost to its 2.0-litre TSI engine. In Eco mode you get a modest 222bhp and 236 lb ft of torque, GT mode hikes those outputs to 252bhp and 268 lbs ft, while the Full Power stage unleashes 311bhp and 313 lb ft.

BMW works hard to avoid gas-guzzler tax

BMW AG hopes to get out from under the gas-guzzler taxes that are tacked on to the sticker prices of some of its high-performance models in the United States. Jim O'Donnell, president of BMW of North America, says the company is studying fuel-efficiency improvements that could eliminate the gas-guzzler taxes on its vehicles as early as the launch of their redesigns in the next few years. The 2010 550i GT incurs a $1,000 gas-guzzler fee, for example.