Fuel Line Connector (dorman #55180) on 2040-parts.com

First MINI Coupé rolls off the production line

MINI Coupe - first production car rolls out at Cowley We’ve only recently had the reveal of the new MINI Coupe – well, the production car reveal, that is. We had the first reveal of the MINI Coupe Concept nearly two years ago and, despite the production MINI Coupe looking almost exactly the same as the concept, MINI managed to do the production reveal in two stages – one with swirly disguise round the rump followed by a full reveal a week or three later. Still, all the pre-production marketing flim-flam out of the way, MINI are getting down to actually making the car that promises to be the most fun (modern) MINI so far, and the very first MINI Coupe has now rolled off the production line at Cowley – cue PR opportunity.

Smart video hints at new ForTwo and ForFour designs (2014)

By Adam Binnie Motor Industry 08 July 2014 12:42 Good news if you cannot wait for the official launch of Smart’s two new 2014 models: a sneak preview of the new ForTwo and ForFour has been released. The video shows off the innovations of the new models, including the ForTwo’s new ‘smile’ and wider stance, and was uploaded to the Daimler AG YouTube channel ahead of the cars’ launch in July 2014. It shows how the latest evolutions of Smart’s clever small cars retain features from their predecessors, such as the Tridion safety shell and wheel-in-each-corner design.

Fire sale continues: Ford cuts stake in Mazda

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 18 November 2008 16:09 Yesterday GM sold its stake in Suzuki; today Ford announced plans to slash its shareholding in Mazda. Previously the Blue Oval held a third of Mazda’s stock, but it has cut that to just 13%. Ford admitted the sale was purely to boost its balance sheet, as the Big Three continue to struggle with cashflow.