Sunoco Race Jug Caps R1110bk-5226 on 2040-parts.com

Ram 1500 EcoDiesels are selling like hotcakes so far

We've been anticipating the arrival of the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel -- and speculating about what it means for the pickup market -- for months. On paper, the truck seems to make perfect sense: The 3.0-liter V6 in the 1500 EcoDiesel returns 23 mpg combined (20 city/28 highway) while producing 240 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. After taking it for a spin, the $30,465 base price didn't seem too bad, either.

Audi lights up for the shortest day

AUDI UK has created a stunning series of low-light photos to celebrate its success this year, just in time for the shortest day of the year. The seven photos use a technique called ‘light painting’, where a stationary object in the dark is lit up by a small hand-held light to selectively brighten areas over a long exposure period to eventually create an unusual-looking end result. To the trained eye it looks like Audi has supplemented the photographer’s torch with static lighting to increase the beauty of the end result, but there’s no doubting their success.

Crunch watch Jan 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman and Gareth Evans Motor Industry 30 January 2009 12:39 Friday 30 January 2009• Honda is about to close the Swindon factory for four months when Friday's shifts are finished; the shutdown will affect 2500 of the 3700 staff, who will receive full pay for two months and then 60% pay for the next eight weeks (BBC News)• Porsche has announced a sharp drop in sales and likely profits. It forecasts a 27% drop in 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne sales to around 34,000 units in the six months to the end of January 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)• Ford wants Washington to do more to stimulate car sales, after posting a record loss of nearly $14.6 billion earlier this week (Detroit News)• Honda's quarterly profit has crashed by 90% – forcing the Japanese car maker to halve its annual profit target (Detroit Free Press)Thursday 29 January 2009• Ford of Europe is a bright spot in the Blue Oval's quarterly results today, making $1.06 billion pre-tax profit in 2008 (up from $997m in 2007). It's the first profit of more than $1bn since 1989 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)• Volvo suffered a 'disastrous 2008' with a pre-tax loss of $1.46bn.