Mercury Capri 2.6 & 2.8 V6 1972-1979 Can Bearing Set on 2040-parts.com

News watch March 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Thursday 31 March 2011• US President Barack Obama has strated all US government cars and trucks purchased from 2015 must be alternative-fuel vehicles (Automotive News)• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has denied a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper that he is leaning towards a formal merger of Nissan and Renault (Reuters)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says that Chrysler's share IPO may now take place in 2012, depending on financial progress this year (Bloomberg)Wednesday 30 March 2011• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called a report that the EV carmaker is a takeover target 'bad analysis' and remains confident the firm will stay independent (Bloomberg)• The BBC denies that it rigged a December 2008 Top Gear TV test of the Tesla Roadster, in response to being sued by the EV carmaker (BBC News)• First Group, the UK's largest public transport operator, has announced a £160m investment in new buses, ordering 955 new buses from UK manufacturers Wrightbus and Dennis over the next two years (BBC News)• Japanese production woes look set to continue into April. Toyota expects the majority of Toyota and Lexus production on 14 April (Automotive News)• Saab production has re-started again, following a half yesterday afternoon.

Future Audis may time traffic lights for you

Here's a trick efficiency-chasing hypermilers have been using for years: spotting the cycles of stoplights from 100 to 200 yards out and letting the car coast up to the light just before it turns green, then carrying on without ever letting the car come to a complete stop. These hypermilers, along with professional truck drivers, do this because they know that accelerating from a standstill burns the greatest amount of fuel, and because letting a car coast up to the light with the automatic transmission downshifting by itself is easier on the transmission than stomping on the brakes right beneath the stoplight. Oh, and it's easier on the brake pads as well.

Mercedes AMG GT S hits the track in new HD video

The new Mercedes AMG GT S on track at Circuit of Americas The Mercedes AMG GT is the long-awaited replacement in the Mercedes range for the SLS AMG, but even though the new AMG GT (and GT S) offers performance almost the equivalent of the SLS, it’s price tag is a lot lower. In fact, at prices expected to start at around £100,000 – and an extra £10-15k for the GT S version – the new AMG GT is at least a third cheaper than the SLS, and aimed at cars like the Porsche 911 and Jaguar F-Type rather than the stratospheric supercars the SLS had in its sights. That also means Mercedes AMG are going to have to sell a chunk more GTs than they ever did SLS models, so you can expect more promos and more profile for the AMG GT than you’d ever have seen for the modest-run SLS – like the latest Mercedes has just released (below).