Standard Motor Products Ds905 Parking Brake Switch on 2040-parts.com

Ford S-Max

Following the 'concept' unveiled at the Frankfurt show a year ago, Ford has now released pictures of the near-identical production version of the second-generation S-Max. The car will make its public debut at the Paris Motor Show next month, and goes on sale in early 2015. Although it's designed in Europe for the European market, the S-Max has still received the One Ford global design treatment.

1949 Ferrari 166MM Touring Barchetta heads for the auction block

A 1949 Ferrari 166MM Touring Barchetta will headline RM Auctions' Automobiles of Arizona event, Jan. 20-21 in Phoenix. This 166 MM, serial number 0024 M, was originally commissioned for the 1949 Paris motor show, where it was shown in yellow and blue, the racing colors of Argentina.

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.