3rd September 2010

(Source: Todayonline.com) MILAN – Ferrari, the Italian luxury carmaker controlled by Fiat, is recalling all its 458 Italia cars after five incidents in which they caught fire.

Ferrari sent letters to all 1,248 owners of the model, asking them to return the vehicles, said an official for the Maranello-based manufacturer.

Ferrari said it will eliminate an adhesive material that may have caused the problems and attach a new heat-shield with additional mechanical fasteners.

The cars caught fire under extreme conditions. The first incident happened in France at the beginning of July, followed by one in Switzerland, one in California and two in China.

The car owners who first reported the fires will now receive a new model. The other cars will be modified to replace the adhesive with mechanical fasteners.

A 458 Italia reaches about 100kmh in 3.2 seconds and typically costs £170,000 ($352,360). Agencies

At the moment, Cars and Stars have the E200 Saloon Sports and the E250 Sports Coupe readily available in our showroon. Contact us if you are interested in any Mercedes-Benz cars and we’ll do our best to get and deliver the car you want.

23rd August 2010

The Godfather of the swoopy four-door Mercedes-Benz coupe niche – a niche it started way back in 2004 – gets a full makeover and will make its public debut at next month’s Paris motor show.

The sexy CLS retains its handsome, matinee-idol good looks but with added venom and some ‘grrrr’; the face is reminiscent of the SLS AMG, the headlamps get 71 LEDs, and the arches are flared which, says Mercedes, ‘resemble the powerful stance of a predator waiting to pounce’.

You can expect a range of efficient diesels and a mind-melting AMG version, potentially the same 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 first seen in the CL63 AMG…

At the moment, Cars and Stars have the E200 Saloon Sports and the E250 Sports Coupe readily available in our showroon. Contact us if you are interested in any Mercedes-Benz cars and we’ll do our best to get and deliver the car you want.

9th August 2010

(Reuters) — Honda Motor Co. is recalling more than 428,000 vehicles in the United States and Canada because of a defect that could cause the cars to roll away if they are parked incorrectly.

The Honda recall covers Accord, Civic and Element models from the 2003 and 2004 model years in the United States. That recall includes 384,220 vehicles. A parallel safety recall in Canada covers those models and some Acura 1.7ELs. There are about 44,000 vehicles under recall in Canada, most of them Accords and Civics.

Honda said that in some situations a part known as the ignition interlock lever could fail. That device is intended to keep drivers from removing their key from the ignition when the vehicle has not been put in park. If the ignition switch fails, that could allow vehicles to roll away when parked incorrectly, causing accidents.

Honda said it would begin notifying consumers of the recall in September. The safety recall started with an inquiry from U.S. safety regulators in September 2008.

In early 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upgraded its inquiry of the potential defect for the 2002 model year Accord, Honda’s best-selling vehicle. At that time, Honda had received reports of 10 crashes related to the defect. NHTSA said consumers had reported 11 crashes to the safety agency for the same problem.

One woman said she had almost been run over by her car when it was parked in her driveway, accord to NHTSA records. In early July, Honda and NHTSA representatives met to discuss the situation and on July 29 Honda determined that it had a safety defect with the ignition switch that demanded a recall, according to the records.

Honda had two other recalls for related problems in 2003 and again in 2005, NHTSA records show. Read more: http://www.autonews.com

Cars and Stars will assist all our past Honda car customers should the Honda recall takes place in Singapore.