Gates 22953 Heater Hose-molded Coolant Hose on 2040-parts.com

Lexus IS 300h promises unrivalled ownership costs

The new Lexus IS - launched at Detroit in January and costing from £26,495 for the IS 250 in the UK – actually offers ownership costs that eclipse diesel offerings from the likes of Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Mercedes, say Lexus. Despite the logical assumption that the complex hybrid powerplant in the IS 300h would cost more to maintain, Lexus say the opposite is true. Because it has no clutch and the starter motor and alternator are integrated they require no servicing or replacement and Lexus has fitted a timing chain instead of a timing belt, so it won’t need regular replacement either.

Pininfarina to close manufacturing operations

Italian design and manufacturing house Pininfarina S.p.A announced it will be cutting back its operations, with the closure of its manufacturing facilities. The decision will see the brand now focusing solely on design and engineering aspects for the automotive industry. The move follows the recent completion of a partnership with Volvo, which saw the production of the C70 convertible at Pininfarina's Sverige AB plant in Uddevalla.

2012 Mercedes B Class – in MB dealers for road tests mid-December

2012 Mercedes B Class - In dealers for Road Test in December With the latest Mercedes B Class having arrived at Frankfurt in September, Mercedes-Benz are now gearing up for customer tests from mid-December. As you can’t have failed to notice, the 2012 Mercedes B Class arrived at this years Frankfurt Motor Show, complete with a raft of detail and even more photos and video. We reported a week or so ago that Mercedes was now in Campaign mode with the new B-Class, and we even had some new photos and a new video – all the better to entice customers in to their local MB dealers to have a look and a play.