Bosch 15146 Oxygen Sensor on 2040-parts.com

Ford Transit production to end in Southampton

Ford is to close its Transit production facility in Southampton, ending more than 100 years of vehicle manufacture in the UK. Most UK car and van buyers still think of Ford as ‘British’, but even though Ford has been building cars in the UK for over 100 years, they haven’t built a single car in the UK for a decade. And now even white van man’s vehicle of choice - the Ford Transit – is being shipped off to Turkey.

Lexus IS (2013) more details of new 3-series rival

Lexus has pulled the cloth back on the all-new Lexus IS at the 2013 Detroit motor show, and announced more details of its new hybrid 3-series rival. This will be the first hybrid Lexus IS, and UK sales will start in summer 2013.  What do we know about the new hybrid Lexus IS?  The IS300h combines an electric motor with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. The torque output is yet to be confirmed, but there's 217bhp and Lexus is aiming for a sub-100g/km CO2 output and fuel consumption of at least 65mpg. Figures like that are likely to grab the attention of fleet managers, as Lexus hopes to close the gap on rivals like the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-class and Audi A4.  There's a non-hybrid model too, but this IS250 will be powered by a 204bhp 2.5-litre V6 petrol engine. It won't be a fleet favourite.  The IS250h has a six-speed automatic transmission, the IS300h has a CVT gearbox, and both cars are rear-wheel drive.

The 10 most patriotic car-buying states

With a holiday coming around the bend with the main premise of patriotism, ’Merica and fireworks, here is a compilation of analytics to show off which states remain loyal to the domestics. Santa Monica, Calif.-based TrueCar reports that the most patriotic state, most likely to buy a new domestic car or truck, would be the Motor City. These statistics were compiled using transaction figures based on domestic vehicle sales.