02 03 04 05 Vw Passat Glove Box 3b1 880 300 on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen plans 4 million cars from one platform

Volkswagen is pushing the global-platform concept to a level unprecedented in the auto industry, introducing a modular platform this summer that eventually will be the basis of microcars, sedans, crossovers and SUVs for its four largest brands. While automakers now share platforms across brands and sometimes even segments, the VW initiative that starts this summer is far more ambitious than anything seen so far. By 2017, some analysts estimate, the MQB platform that debuts with the Audi A3 eventually will be used in 4 million units a year--close to half of VW's annual production.

The Great Texas Beer Run

For reasons still not clear, boatloads of German immigrants made Texas their home in the 1800s. What they thought they would find similar to their cold, richly forested homeland in the hellaciously hot, mes-quite-scrub, rattlesnake-filled Texas Hill Country is lost to history. Worse, they brought almost nothing with them from the Old World to remind them of home.

Chevrolet Aveo RS at Detroit motor show 2010

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 11 January 2010 00:01 Chevrolet showed off its new go-faster rollerskate, the Chevy Aveo RS concept, at the 2010 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). It's not that far-flung a show car, being based on the regular or garden Aveo – but pumped up with a sporty 1.4-litre turbocharged engine. As transplants go, this is the future of performance cars even in the US, say GM types.