Suzuki Marine 13673-26e00 13673-26e00 O Ring on 2040-parts.com

2014 (or is it 2015?) Ford Mondeo to launch in UK & Europe late 2014

The new Ford Mondeo will now arrive in the UK in late 2014 The story of the new Ford Mondeo for the UK Europe (which should have been the 2013 Mondeo but will end up as the 2014 or 2015 Mondeo) has been a bit tortuous. Despite the new Mondeo being on sale in the US as the Ford Fusion since summer 2012, and in China since summer 2013 (and the reveal of the production version of the Mondeo over two years ago and a set of new Mondeo photos too), Ford’s decision to shut up shop at Genk in Belgium – the Mondeo’s traditional manufacturing plant – meant there was no way to give Europe the new Mondeo. So we’ve had to wait for Ford to sort out production lines in Valencia to build the new Mondeo but now, according to Mark Ovenden – Ford’s UK boss – the new Mondeo will arrive in the third quarter of 2014 in the UK and Europe.

New Jaguar XJR will see the end of the XJ SuperSport

The launch of the new 2013 Jaguar XJR at the New York Auto Show this week heralds the end of the line for Jaguar’s other Supercharged V8 XJ – the SuperSport. With a much more fulsome 542bhp, some very ‘Jaguar’ go-faster bits, some proper fettling to make the steering, gearbox and suspension focus more on the drive without making a mess of the ride and altogether more dynamism in prospect than the SuperSport, we’d assumed Jaguar were making the XJR the performance pinnacle of the XJ range and leaving the SuperSport in place as the ‘luxury’ alternative. With that thought in mind we’d expected to see Jaguar push the price of the new XJR up towards the XJ Ultimate (which costs £121,000), so count us gobsmacked when Jaguar revealed the new XJR will cost from £92,335 – just £500 more than the SuperSport.

The heartbreak of Jaguar love finally requited

As a young boy in the early 1960s, I would trek solo to our local auto show in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While other boys and their dads would make a beeline to the latest Corvettes and later American muscle cars, I would always head first for the Jaguar stand. I found the combination of different styling, luxurious wood and leather interiors and promise of fast travel through landscapes that were foreign to me to be intoxicating.