Mercury Quicksilver 27-35150 35150 Gasket on 2040-parts.com

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.

Fiat 500L: Now it’s the ‘Fatherhood’ video

Fiat has followed up their viral ‘Motherhood’ video for the new 500L with a new version to balance the gender bias – ‘Fatherhood’. That was because Fiat managed to tap in to the woes of parenthood (or, more precisely, motherhood) with a bit of a hip-hop ditty by a vexed young mother, bemoaning the changes motherhood has wrought on her life. It was a clever bit of marketing to target grown-up lovers of Fiat’s funky little 500, with the family sized version of their favourite car offering solace for a very different lifestyle.

McLaren Special Operations: Bespoke bits for your McLaren

McLaren Special Operations - your McLaren, your way We reported last week that McLaren had taken a customised MP4-12C to Pebble Beach and that it heralded the start of ‘McLaren Exclusive’ to customise customer cars. We were close, but its actually McLaren Special Operations -  and not McLaren Exclusive –  that’s doing the customising. But the principle is the same; McLaren will do pretty much anything you want done to your McLaren – as they always have – but with the McLaren Road Car division growing all the time it will all now come under the banner of the new  McLaren Special Operations division.