Gates 19547 Heater Hose on 2040-parts.com

Spotted: Alfa Romeo 4C caught testing in Michigan

An anonymous reader passed along this short video of a heavily camouflaged Alfa Romeo 4C testing in Michigan this morning. Hopefully it was a passenger doing the filming. The 4C is scheduled to begin production at Maserati's Modena facility this spring.

Toyota & Lexus: Hybrid sales in Europe hit 20%

The ‘Green’ evangelists want to get us all driving electric cars to save the planet, but in the real world car drivers want a car that offers them all the practicality of a normal ICE car, but without the penalties of the poor range, high cost and inconvenience of an EV. So, with ever-rising fuel costs, it’s no wonder car buyers are willing to pay a little more for a car that offers better economy at the pumps – which plays straight in to the hands of Hybrid pioneers Toyota. The result is that Toyota and Lexus now see a full 20 per cent of their sale in Europe being hybrid cars in the first quarter of 2013, with sales of hybrid cars up a massive 82 per cent year-on-year.

Jaguar tells design story behind new XF Sportbrake [w/video]

Jaguar has released a walk-through of the design of its new XF Sportbrake, which debuted at last week's Geneva motor show. The video features Jaguar design boss Ian Callum and Studio Director Wayne Burgess explaining how the design team managed to keep the company's first official estate car in line with the sportiness and luxury nature of Jaguar brand. Callum says, "I know it's a very practical car, there's an amount of pragmatism in it, it is functional, but at the end of the day it is we call a Sportbrake, it has to look to sporty.