Wise 13" Steel Pedestal - Black on 2040-parts.com

Ford Mondeo/Fusion unveiled at 2012 Detroit show

Ford unveiled its new 2013 Mondeo at the Detroit auto show - the new Mondeo is in fact now a Fusion in Euro drag. Under the One Ford rules, most major car projects are in fact global affairs, so the Mondeo follows in the footsteps of the Focus, also unveiled in Detroit two years ago and brought to Europe a year later. We'll have a similarly long wait for the Ford Fusion to make the leap to the European Mondeo, with a launch slated for spring 2013.

Volvo picks up Red Dot Design Award for new connectivity system

Volvo's Sensus Connected Touch connectivity system with the world's first voice-activated integrated Spotify connection has been awarded a 2013 Red Dot Design Award. The Sensus Connected Touch accessory turns the integrated 7-inch display into an infrared, beam-scanned touch screen that can be used even when wearing gloves. The system can be controlled using the touchscreen, the steering wheel or the center stack, while you can also voice-activate all music sources. Alain Visser, senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer service at Volvo, says, "The Red Dot Design Award confirms that this approach to an intuitive, human-centric user experience fulfils modern car owners' desire to remain constantly connected also when driving." The WiFi connection can be made using either a car-mounted 3G/4G-dongle or the driver's mobile phone, and the data is transferred by the WiFi between the phone and the Sensus Connected Touch.

Vauxhall Cascada: Official

The new 2013 Vauxhall Cascada – a full size convertible and the modern version of the Astra Twin Top – has been revealed. For some reason best known to Vauxhall, they chose not to debut the Cascada at the Paris Motor Show – perhaps to give the new Adam its moment in the sun – but now we get Vauxhall’s latest model in its revised line-up. The Cascada is a proper full size, four seat convertible – it’s only a couple of inches shorter than a Mercedes E Class Cabriolet – and has its underpinnings based on elements from both the Insignia and Astra and comes with a folding fabric roof instead of the tin-top folding roof in the Twin Top which can be raised and lowered in 17 seconds at speeds of up to 30mph.