Centric Parts 122.66029 Rear Brake Drum on 2040-parts.com

New Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet and Estate delayed

The new Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet - now put back until Spring 2010 Mercedes has done a pretty good job on updating the E-Class, and its been receiving good comments all round. But Mercedes has lost the momentum a bit with the revelation that the E-Class Coupe is actually based on a C-Class chassis. Not that that alone is reason for complaint, but there was a big hoo-haa around the nomenclature for the E-Class Coupe (should it have been the CLK?) so it was a bit disingenuous of Mercedes to reveal the Coupe’s roots after its reveal.

MINI gives the London Philharmonic the patriotic horn

MINI has teamed up the 2012 MINI London Edition with the London Philharmonic to create a MINI horn National Anthem. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has just finished the mammoth task of recording 205 National Anthems for the 2012 London Olympics, but this is one National Anthem that won’t be wafting across East London in the next month. The London 2012 Olympics are MINI’s marketing method of choice at the moment, so they took nine MINI London 2012 Editions – in a mix of Red, White and Blue – tuned their horns and roped in nine musicians from the Philharmonic’s horn section to toot in time.

U.S. set to raise fuel-economy standard

Government regulators will get their prize of higher fuel-economy standards, and automakers will get the certainty of a national emissions standard, under new rules to be proposed Tuesday by President Barack Obama. The fleet average fuel economy for automakers will rise to 35.5 mpg in 2016 under the president's proposal--10 mpg more than today's mandate. At the same time, the president's proposed rule will cut carbon emissions, thought to be a key factor in global warming.