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

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the world

It’s a big feather in Ford’s cap and vindication of their ‘One Ford’ global product strategy, which has finally seen Ford realise that the world wants the cars it makes and designs in Europe. Focus sales rose in the US by 40 per cent in 2012 (a market Ford would have declared completely unsuitable for a relatively compact European hatch a decade ago) and China accounted for a massive one in four of all Focus sold, a rise of 51 per cent, making the Focus the best-selling passenger car in China. Not only did the Focus take the best selling car (actually, best selling nameplate), the Ford Fiesta did well to, coming in sixth on Polk’s list with a not insignificant 723,130 registrations around the world.

BARONS ENDS YEAR ON HIGH

AUCTION HOUSE Barons has celebrated a successful classic car auction with 44 successful sales and a 1959 Aston Martin DB MKIII DHC making £175,000. The classic Aston had belonged to the same family since it was three-months-old and was joined by another DB MKIII example, a rolling restoration project that fetched £70,000. Another notable sale was a "time-warp" 1970 Ford Escort Delux MkI, which had covered just 2,600 miles in 40 years.

Hyundai integrates Smartphones in to their cars

Hyundai is harnessing the power of the Smartphone to make in-car information and driver settings integrate seamlessly. For those of us old enough to remember the first mobile phones – and the first home PCs – the realisation that we’re all walking round now with Smartphones that have more processing power than it took to put a man on the moon is almost mind boggling. Sadly, most of us use just a fraction of the capabilities of our phones, but the fact we have all that clever tech tucked in our trouser pockets gives car makers the opportunity to harness it to provide more functionality for their cars.