91 Ford Explorer Amplifier/speakers 27414 on 2040-parts.com

Chevrolet Volt uses parts made from oil-collecting booms

General Motors is transforming about 100 miles of boom material used to soak up oil in the Gulf of Mexico into auto parts for the Chevrolet Volt. The oil-soaked plastic material collected off the Alabama and Louisiana coasts will keep more than 100,000 pounds of waste from the nation's landfills. The project is expected to make enough plastic to supply the first-year production of Volts with plastic parts for under the hood.

VW halts merger talk with Porsche

Volkswagen on Sunday slammed the brakes on merger talks with Porsche, just before the first meeting to discuss ways to bring all of the automakers' brands together under one entity. VW said that it made the move because it believes that Porsche doesn't have a solid plan for the merger. VW and Porsche announced the plan to hold merger talks on May 6.

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.