Ford Racing Super Cobra Jet Cylinder Head M-6049-scjb on 2040-parts.com

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.

Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell Saloon revealed

The final design of Toyota’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell saloon is revealed The final design of the production version of the Toyota Fuel Cell Saloon has been revealed ahead of its arrival in the UK next summer, and it’s not a million miles away from the Toyota FCV Concept we saw last year at the Tokyo Motor Show. It’s not the best-looking car on the planet – the back, in particular, does seem a bit muddled – but it’s what’s under the skin that matters and that the FCEV is, subject to a proper refuelling infrastructure, a move forward for transport in a way BEVs will never be. The Toyota Fuel Cell saloon will offer performance and range very similar to an ICE car and, more importantly, can be refuelled in the same sort of time as an ICE car, which means electric car benefits with none of the range anxiety concerns that put most buyers off.

Infiniti EV put on hold to concentrate on volume sales

An Infiniti EV based on the Nissan LEAF (previewed by the LE Concept above) have been put on hold Nissan’s luxury arm, Infiniti, is on a global push to try and make inroads in to the dominance of Lexus in the luxury Japanese car arena, and has ambitious plans to be selling 500,000 cars a year by 2017. But Infiniti sold only a third of that total in 2012, so any chance of hitting the lofty target of 500k cars in the next five years means they must concentrate on volume cars, not niche cars like a Nissan LEAF based EV. That means the LEAF-based Infiniti LE EV Concept we saw at the New York Auto Show in 2012 will stay as a concept for the foreseeable future as Infiniti boss, Johan de Nysschen, seeks volume cars that will push the brand forward and bring proper sales numbers.