Standard Motor Products Tx40 Coolant Temperature Sensor on 2040-parts.com

Opel / Vauxhall Mocha almost revealed as Buick Encore

Three quarters of the Bucik Encore - the American Mocha The European Opel / Vauxhall Mocha – a Corsa based SUV – has been almost revealed in the US with a tease for the Buick Encore. Just before Christmas we reported on a new Corsa-based SUV on the way from Vauxhall and Opel which looks like it’s going to be the Opel Mocha (and, we assume, the Vauxhall Mocha too). But in this new ‘One World’ for cars, where North America actually gets the sort of cars they would once have derided as too small to consider, the Mocha is also going on sale in the US.

Honda unveils Insight Hybrid

Honda has released the first official images of the Prius-fighting Honda Insight, which is due to launch in the New Year at the Detroit Motor Show, and be in UK Car showrooms in the Spring of 2009. Honda has been sceptical about the future of the Hybrid/Electric car, and has expressed the view that it believes the long term future lies in Hydrogen powered EVs, rather than EVs per se. But this is a sensible move by Honda to take away sales from the Toyota Prius.

Ford Cortina: 50 years ago today…

Ford are celebrating 50 years since the first Ford Cortina was launched and changed the car landscape forever. The Ford Cortina went on to sell an impressive 4.3 million during its twenty year life, eventually turning in to the Ford Sierra and then in to the Ford family car of today – the 2013 Ford Mondeo (which, interestingly, can be had with the 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine – smaller even than the 1200cc of that first Cortina). That first Cortina was the start of Ford’s dominance of the UK car market, leading to an unbroken run of 35 years as the best selling car brand with most of the Cortinas, almost 3 million of them, built at Dagenham – in the days Ford actually built cars here.