Vintage Ford Mustang Parts Glovebox=speedodometer=seat Belts=trim=some Bolts on 2040-parts.com

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

MINI gives the London Philharmonic the patriotic horn

MINI has teamed up the 2012 MINI London Edition with the London Philharmonic to create a MINI horn National Anthem. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has just finished the mammoth task of recording 205 National Anthems for the 2012 London Olympics, but this is one National Anthem that won’t be wafting across East London in the next month. The London 2012 Olympics are MINI’s marketing method of choice at the moment, so they took nine MINI London 2012 Editions – in a mix of Red, White and Blue – tuned their horns and roped in nine musicians from the Philharmonic’s horn section to toot in time.

Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Concept

This is the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Concept – a Porsche Panamara Shooting Brake Hybrid – headed for a Paris 2012 debut. There have been rumours for some time that Porsche was going to build a shooting brake version of the Panamera -we reported it would be at Paris 2012 back in July – and on the eve of the Paris Motor Show we get the proof – the first photos of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Concept. The Panamera Sport looks like it’s got some sort of hybrid powertrain, although we have no details yet from Porsche.