Chevrolet Turbo 400 Transmission (street & Track) on 2040-parts.com

General Motors to shut down Saab

General Motors has announced that it will be closing the Saab brand after the company was unable to strike a deal with Spyker Cars. This follows from last month's withdrawal of would-be suitor Koenigsegg, leaving Spyker the sole contender in the acquisition of the ailing Swedish brand. According to Nick Reilly, GM's European president, the company has decided to cut its losses: "Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time.

Crunch watch October 09: the auto industry in crisis

Tuesday 20 October 2009• Honda's CEO said he would consider launching electric vehicles for sale in Europe, Japan and the USA in a possible change of strategy for the Japanese car manufacturer (Automotive News, subscription required)• Ford 59-plate car sales up by 22% in September ‘09 compared to the same month last year. Ford claims a 14.8% share of total new car sales for the same period (Ford)• Porsche, VW and Daimler all sent top executives to the Shanghai motor show in April, but chose to snub the Tokyo motor show this week. The news comes as China’s automotive market is set to become the world’s largest (Bloomberg)• Toyota enters the Korean car market, challenging the 72% market share owned by Hyundai Motor Co (Bloomberg)  Monday 19 October 2009 • The organisers of the Geneva motor show claim that 'all of the major manufacturers have already confirmed their participation' for the March 2010 event (Geneva Palexpo)• Jaguar is auctioning off the first XJ off the line to raise £1m for the NSPCC children's charity.

More than half of young drivers use smartphones while driving

Rex, Image Braker More than half of young drivers use their smartphone while driving, new research reveals. It’s a worrying sign that distractions behind the wheel are becoming more prevalent in an increasingly connected society. Despite almost 90% of young people claiming to get annoyed when they see someone else using a phone behind the wheel, 50% admit to reading text messages while driving.