Mercedes S600 Fuel Cap Fits :w140 Model 1994,95,96,97,98,99 Gas Cap 140 47 00 05 on 2040-parts.com

White House pushes automakers toward 54.5-mpg target by 2025

The White House is pushing automakers to agree by Wednesday to a corporate average fuel economy target of 54.5 mpg by 2025--a figure 1.7 mpg less than the 56.2 mpg standard it floated earlier this month. The easing of the White House plan stems from a concession to makers of light trucks and SUVs, and particularly larger vehicles in that segment, such as Ford's F-150, sources said. The latest White House proposal, the most definitive of any it has put forth, calls for a 5 percent annual mileage increase for cars from 2017-2025, said industry and congressional officials who asked not to be named because their discussions with the White House are confidential.

Petrol sales hit record low in July

FEARS of a 4p-a-litre rise in prices at the pumps sent petrol sales crashing to an all-time July low. The rise turned out to be only 1.5p a litre but it led to July petrol consumption dipping to 1.44 billion litres, down nearly 100 million litres on June, according to Government figures highlighted by the AA. The AA said petrol retailers and others had predicted that the UK's average cost of petrol would rise by up to 4p a litre in July.

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.