Tuff Country U-bolt 17751 on 2040-parts.com

Ford Focus is the best selling car…in the world

It’s a big feather in Ford’s cap and vindication of their ‘One Ford’ global product strategy, which has finally seen Ford realise that the world wants the cars it makes and designs in Europe. Focus sales rose in the US by 40 per cent in 2012 (a market Ford would have declared completely unsuitable for a relatively compact European hatch a decade ago) and China accounted for a massive one in four of all Focus sold, a rise of 51 per cent, making the Focus the best-selling passenger car in China. Not only did the Focus take the best selling car (actually, best selling nameplate), the Ford Fiesta did well to, coming in sixth on Polk’s list with a not insignificant 723,130 registrations around the world.

Daimler considers building Mercedes C-class in U.S.

Daimler AG could move some production of the Mercedes-Benz C-class to the United States from Germany, a German newspaper reported Wednesday. The Stuttgarter Zeitung said some C-class production could be transferred to the carmaker's plant in Vance, Ala., from Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, as part of a wider production shakeup planned by Daimler to reduce costs. In the future, the C-class sedan could be built in three locations: Bremen, Germany; Vance, Ala., and in China, the newspaper said.

Nissan and Fiat marketing heads trade insults over 'visual pollution'

A war of words has erupted between Fiat and Nissan's marketing departments over their electric vehicle designs, the Leaf and the 500e. Matt Davis, head of Fiat product marketing, told Bloomberg News before the launch of its all-electric 500e at the Los Angeles show last week that "ugliness is probably one of the worst forms of pollution," seen as an indirect attack on Nissan's electric offering. The then 500e came under attack with Nissan criticizing the fact that it was created only to meet Californian emissions requirements.