Beck/arnley 180-0476 Cam Position Sensor on 2040-parts.com

European car sales down 9.6% Jan 2013. VW Golf sales down 17.8%

Car sales in Europe continue to decline with sales down 9.6% in January 2013 and the top-selling VW Golf down by 17.8%. In fact, the UK was the only top five market to increase sales, with Germany down 8.6 per cent, France down 15.1 per cent, Italy down 17.6 per cent and Spain 9.2 per cent. Other notable drops included the Netherlands which saw a huge drop of 30.4 per cent, partly driven by tighter emission boundaries on company car taxation.

New BMW X4 price and specs for the UK – costs from £36,590

The new BMW X4 is now on sale in the UK The new BMW X4 – BMW’s baby X6 and a ‘coupe’ version of the very able X3 – arrived at the Geneva Motor SHow in March, and it’s now on sale in the UK priced from £36,590 for the BMW X4 xDrive20d SE, a chunky £3.5k more than the equivalent X3. But what you’re buying in the new X4 is a lifestyle statement rather than a family SAV like the X3, so the premium is so others know you’re prepared to pay more for a less practical urban SUV. Still, a similar scenario with the X5 and X6 hasn’t stopped buyers opting for the X6 instead and it seems likely the X4 will take an even bigger split of the X3/X4 sales than the X6 does from the X5.

Jaguar Land Rover factory closure

Jaguar Land Rover are to close one of their production facilities in the Midlands JLR unions have already brokered a deal to ensure no job losses in the short term, but JLR are committed to rationalising their manufacturing across just two plants in the UK, instead of the existing three. The decision will be made about which plant to close in the next eighteen months. The most likely scenario is that JLR will close Solihull – which currently produces Land Rovers and employs 5000 people – and concentrate Land Rover production at Halewood.