Bendix/king Kt76a Transponder on 2040-parts.com

Renault Megane Renaultsport 275 Trophy – heading For Goodwood FoS 2014

Megane Renaultsport 275 Trophy (pictured) aiming for a Nurburgring record Renault teased the Megane Renaultsport 275 Trophy on social media last month, but now it’s arrived – and it’s going to have a busy summer. Apart from a  debut at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed next month, Renault are planning to take the 275 Trophy to the Nurburgring to try and grab back the lap record for a production front wheel drive car from the SEAT Leon Cupra 280. With that in mind, Renault has given the 2.0 litre Turbo in the Megane Renaultsport 275 Trophy a bit of a tweak to yield 271bhp hoping that will be enough to beat the current 7:58.4s record.

Vauxhall Astra & Astra Sports Tourer get BiTurbo diesel

Vauxhall has decided to bolt their BiTurbo diesel engine in to the Astra Hatch and the Astra Sports Tourer. Vauxhall revealed last month that the Astra GTC was getting the frugal but lively 2.0 litre CDTi BiTurbo engine, offering a tempting combination of 53mpg official economy and sub 8 second 0-62mph performance. With levels of economy unthinkable just a few years ago combined with performance a hot hatch would have been proud of, the BiTurbo Astra GTC is a clever combination.

GM to slash global vehicle platforms by more than half, to 14, by 2018

General Motors says it will cut the number of vehicle platforms it uses globally by more than half over the next decade, in a bid to reduce complexity and save on product-development costs. “More of our components will be common, and more of our vehicles will be on global architectures,” GM CEO Dan Akerson told analysts on Tuesday. His remarks came as GM kicked off a series of presentations online, billed as its 2011 Global Business Conference.