2014 Mercedes E 350/ E550 Rear Bumper For Sensors Oem on 2040-parts.com

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.

Who's Where: Walter de'Silva appointed Head of VW Group Design

Volkswagen has just announced that Walter de'Silva, 55, has been appointed Head of Volkswagen Group Design. Since March 2002, de'Silva has been Head of Design at the now discontinued Audi brand group. There, in addition to supervising the Audi brand design, he was also in charge of Seat and Lamborghini.

Hyundai ix35 Hydrogen FCEV for £300 a month and free fuel – but only in the U.S.

Hyundai Tucson Hydrogen FCEV (pictured) for £300 a month and free fuel – but only in the U.S. It’s very early days for cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells, not least because there’s very little in the way of a refuelling infrastructure in place. But car makers are starting to push FCEVs in a bigger way as production costs fall and performance increases, and Hyundai are at the forefront of this move with the hydrogen-powered ix35 and its US equivalent the Hyundai Tucson.