1982 Trs Gimbal Housing Stern Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Aston Martin Rapide Shooting Brake heading for production?

Is the Bertone Jet 2+2 (pictured) heading for production as the Rapide Shooting Brake? At the Geneva Motor Show in March, we saw the Bertone Jet 2+2 – essentially an Aston Martin Rapide Shooting Brake – designed by Bertone as a one-off customer car. But it looks like the Rapide Estate may be heading for production.

Opel Ampera plug-in hybrid design sketches leak out

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 February 2009 09:28 These pictures allegedly reveal the production-spec Opel/Vauxhall Ampera a fortnight ahead of its Geneva show debut. A Spanish website claims to have stumbled across the technical design sketches at a European patent office and – if authentic – they spill the beans on the new plug-in hybrid electric concept car that’s bound for a showroom near you within two years. The Ampera is Opel/Vauxhall’s version of the Chevrolet Volt, the breakthrough car that could just save GM if it survives its current crisis.

CES: GM to open the dashboard to developers

At last year's Autoweek Design Forum, father of the iPod and Nest Labs co-founder Tony Fadell suggested that automakers concentrate on designing and building cars, leaving handset makers to handle infotainment. The latest announcements from Ford and GM -- in conjunction with the International CES -- suggest that automakers would rather treat the dashboard space as a handset. Yesterday, Dearborn, Mich., announced the Ford Developer Program, which opens up Sync to outside application development; now General Motors has announced a similar initiative.