Gmb Water Pump on 2040-parts.com

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.

Audi A6 allroad 3.0 TDI is the five millionth Audi with quattro 4WD

The first Audi qauttro hit the headlines in 1980 and now – 33 years later – Audi has produced its five millionth car with AWD – an A6 Allroad. It’s thirty years since Audi became the first mainstream car maker to offer a four wheel drive road car when the Audi quattro hit the road, offering a (certainly for then) fulsome 200PS with the added reassurance of four wheel drive for added grip. True, others had flirted with 4WD road cars before Audi made it mainstream, such as Jensen with the FF in the 1960s, but Audi’s bold move was a real first for a mainstream maker, even if the Audi quattro was not exactly an entry-level model.

Infiniti to sell luxury EV in 2013

Infiniti plans to launch its first luxury electric vehicle in the United States and other global markets in 2013. Nissan Motor Co.'s luxury division said Friday that the Infiniti EV will be “a stylish, high performance five-seat luxury vehicle with zero emissions technology.” Infiniti first announced plans to market an electric vehicle last year but offered few details until now. It will be based on the same platform as the Nissan Leaf, an electric car scheduled to go on sale later this year.