Standard Motor Products Ry44 Wiper Relay on 2040-parts.com

Fiat 500 Cabrio hits the US

The Fiat 500 Cabrio hits the US for Spring Actually, we’re not completely convinced that the Fiat 500 cabrio (that’s Fiat 500 Convertible for those of us on the old continent who prefer real words)  has hit the US. Because although Fiat has told us the 500 Cabrio hits the US ‘Just in time for spring’, it doesn’t say when US customers will start to get cars. Which may be a bit nit-picking, but there doesn’t seem much point saying it’s hitting in time for Spring when Spring’s a third done and there’s still no date.

BMW 640d xDrive announced

On Thursday, Greg Kable waxed effusively about the new BMW M550d xDrive coupe, suggesting that it was the ultimate 5-series for everyday use. On Friday, Munich announced that the 5's two-door sibling will receive an AWD diesel variant: the 640d xDrive. While not quite as high-zoot as the 5-series' top oil burner, the 640d's 3.0-liter, twin-turbo straight-six cranks out a respectable 465 lb-ft of almighty torque between 1,500 rpm and 2,500 rpm, plus 313 hp at 4,400 rpm—numbers that, according to BMW, will carry the 6-series to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds.

Gorden Wagener on how Mercedes is "moving from a traditional luxury brand to a modern luxury brand"

Mercedes' 'home' design studio in Sindelfingen, Germany is housed in an expansive 30,000-square meter building designed by Renzo Piano. The lobby is unassuming, but we're soon through into what Mercedes' grandly calls 'the Vision Room.' It's here that strategic meetings are held with the firm's board, and where we meet Gorden Wagener, Mercedes' head of design since 2008. It's in the Vision Room that Wagener convinced the Mercedes board of the merits of his overarching design philosophy: 'sensual purity'.