2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid Used Fuel Pump on 2040-parts.com

2012 European Car of the Year shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2012 European Car of the Year award has been announced today. There were 35 cars on the original list, but the first round of voting from the 59 jury members (including CAR Magazine’s editor Phil McNamara, and our European correspondent Georg Kacher) has whittled the list down to just seven. They are… • Citroen DS5• Fiat Panda• Focus Focus• Opel (Vauxhall) Ampera/Chevrolet Volt• Range Rover Evoque• Toyota Yaris• Volkswagen Up There will now be a second round of test drives, before the European Car of the Year jurors submit their scores and a winner is announced live at the Geneva motor show on 5 March 2012.

The Petersen Museum's proposed new exterior

This is not Architectureweek and granted, the Petersen Automotive Museum really does have to do something to its drab, Ohrbach's department store exterior to let people know there's a car museum inside. Shown here is what they're planning to do. The Petersen museum released this drawing of its planned exterior revision.

Toyota sets Nurburgring record... for fuel economy

WHATEVER else you might say about Toyota, it seems the brand has a sense of humour. Driving enthusiasts will hand their (petrol)heads in shame after Toyota completed the 12.9-mile German track at an average of 698mpg. The embarrassingly pedestrian time of 20 minutes and 59 seconds was set by motor journalist and Japanese car expert Joe Clifford, and since Toyota is the first to shame itself with a fuel economy run at the heart of performance car testing, it automatically sets a new efficiency record.