Spectra Premium Industries Inc Fp08a Oil Pan (engine) on 2040-parts.com

New Ford Kuga: Titanium and Titanium X make up 87% of sales

The new Ford Kuga is now hitting UK showrooms, and Ford has revealed that 87% of buyers are opting for the range-topping Titanium and Titanium X models. But what’s most interesting – in what is supposed to be a cash-strapped economy – is that a full 87 per cent of all the new Kugas ordered so far have been the range-topping Titanium and Titanium X models, and the average up-spend on options is another £1,000 on top of that. That means that although the Ford Kuga range starts at £21,000, 87 per cent of buyers are actually spending between £25-30k on their new compact SUV, which must warm the cockles of Ford’s heart.

Project Car Hell, Unidentifiable German Coupes Edition: Borgward Isabella Coup

Welcome back to Project Car Hell, where every iron atom always finds the oxygen it seeks, every vehicle ran when parked, and the parts you need are always in another continent! Last week, we got all patriotic with a couple of classic American muscle cars, and that just whetted our appetite for cars that were smaller and more, you know, German. We gave you a tough choice between a couple of air-cooled Volkswagens not long ago, but this time we're interested in German marques that disappeared in the 1960s: NSU and Borgward.

Top Gear 'regrets' Clarkson remark

TOP GEAR'S producer has apologised after broadcasting a "light-hearted" joke by Jeremy Clarkson that sparked a complaint of racism. The episode, which was filmed in Burma and Thailand and shown in March, featured a scene where the motoring show's stars built a bridge over the River Kwai and as an Asian man walked over it Clarkson said: "That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it." Somi Guha, an actress who complained to the BBC, said the use of the phrase was an example of "casual racism" and "gross misconduct". The BBC2 show's executive producer, Andy Wilman, said: "When we used the word slope in the recent Top Gear Burma Special it was a light-hearted word play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it.