Bmw E30 External Fuel Pump Mounting Bracket on 2040-parts.com

GM to double size of battery lab

General Motors says it will spend $8 million to double the size of its Global Battery Systems Lab, which the company claims is the largest and most technologically advanced automotive battery lab in the United States. GM says the expansion will speed up the development of hybrid and electric vehicles, such as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt, by improving on-site testing of battery cells and systems. When finished, the lab will be 30,000 square feet bigger than it is now, for a 63,000-square-foot total.

Volvo S60 saloon (2010) unveiled

This is the new Volvo S60, and it’s the latest attempt by the Swedish safety-mongers to snatch a share of the small executive saloon market that’s dominated by the 3-series, A4 and C-class. Volvo has only released two exterior photos of the new S60 – we’ll see the interior closer to the car’s Geneva motor show unveil in March 2010 – as it wants to highlight the new car’s design. Under now-departed design chief Steve Mattin, the S60 has been created as the car that will start the differentiation of Volvo design and break the one-size-fits-all focus.

Peel P50 back in business

Did you know you can buy a brand new Peel P50? That’s the tiny three-wheeled microcar Jeremy Clarkson famously drove around the inside of BBC Television Centre for an episode of Top Gear in 2007, and holder of the Guinness world’s smallest production car title for over 50 years. Turns out it was put back into production in 2010, and is now assembled under licence by a company called Grasshopper in Nottingham.