2002 Bombardier Ds50 Rectifier Voltage Regulator B229 on 2040-parts.com

Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.

Toyota charity puts boots on the ground in Detroit

For the second year in a row, Toyota has chosen to celebrate the opening of the Detroit auto show with a philanthropic gesture. In order to help homeless women and children in the Detroit area, Toyota's “Walk in my Boots” community project will partner with Moosejaw, a Michigan-based outdoor retailer, to donate new boots to residents of The Salvation Army Denby Center for Children and Family Services in Detroit. Toyota will also be providing a luncheon buffet for the residents when they deliver the boots and donating $10,000 to the facility to help with operations' costs.

European car sales down 5.2%

EUROPEAN UNION car sales are still sagging despite the return of modest economic growth. For the first eight months of the year, passenger car sales were down 5.2% to 7.84 million compared with the same period last year, the European Auto Manufacturers' Association said - the lowest January-August figure since the group started keeping records in 1990. New car registrations in August fell five per cent from a year ago to 653,872.