Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

London Taxi maker Manganese Bronze bought by China’s Geely

China automotive giant Geely has bought Manganese Bronze – makers of the iconic London Black Cab – in an £11.04 million deal. The iconic London Black Cab has been an accident waiting to happen for years, as under investment in making the Black Cab fit for the 21st century saw competition – like the Mercedes Vito Taxi and the Nissan NV200 Cab – start to offer serious competition to the taxi that identifies London. Despite an investment by China’s Geely – when Geely bought 20 per cent of Manganese Bronze, makers of the Black Cab – and the bulk of the Black Cab being produced in China and bolted together in the Midlands, the final nail in the coffin for Manganese Bronze was the recall of 400 TX4 cabs over a steering fault.

Bugatti Veyron Limited Editions at Dubai Motor Show

Buhgatti has revealed three Limited Edition Veyrons at the Dubai Motor Show We’re back to yet more Bugatti Veyron Limited Edition cars to add to the 300 already out there (sorry, that’s the number of Veyrons in total – but it’s close to the number of ‘Special’ Veyrons) with the reveal of the Veyron Nocturne, the Veyron Sang d’Argent and the Veyron Soleil de Nuit at the Dubai Motor Show today. The Veyron Nocturne is a limited run of five cars costing €1.65 million each. Bugatti wax lyrical about “…extraordinary partition of surfaces never used so far, giving the car a new dimension of lateral length” and “…galvanized side windows continuing the line of the polished aluminium upper body parts to the rear of the car and contrast vividly with the uni black of the side- and door-panels and the roof.” So much as with every other Veyron Limited Edition it’s about setting the car apart.

The future is cloudy

Last night before CES opened here in Las Vegas we met the principals of a start-up company called Driver Cloud. They said they had an idea about using the cloud to operate a package delivery service the same way other sites do ride sharing – you'd send out a notice on their network that you needed a package delivered and a bonded, licensed Driver Cloud truck owner would deliver it for you for a fee. The service, called Gofr, would work in conjunction with Driver Cloud's ride sharing component, called Chofr.