Johnson/evinrude Horn Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Mitsubishi to kill current U.S.-made lineup, bring in new platform

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plans to kill its current lineup of U.S.-made vehicles, including the Eclipse sporty car and Endeavor crossover, over the next three years and switch to producing global vehicles at its Illinois plant, partly to target export markets. The current nameplates will be phased out by 2014 as part of the carmaker's “Jump 2013” mid-term business plan unveiled Thursday by president Osamu Masuko.

Kia promotes design chief Schreyer

Kia Motors Corp. has promoted design chief Peter Schreyer to president. He's the first non-Korean to attain the position at Kia.

Audi shifts to eight-speeds for most models

A formal press conference probably won't happen until this summer, but we hear that Audi dealers have received their 2011 order guides, and it looks as though the company will be going from 0 to about 70 percent of U.S. sales being eight-speed automatic transmissions. Beginning this fall, the eight-speed will replace today's six-speed automatic in the A4 2.0-liter turbo sedan and wagon, the A5 2.0-liter turbo coupe and cabriolet, the Q5 2.0-liter turbo, the Q7 3.0-liter turbo, the Q7 diesel, the Q7 with the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and the all-new A8 and A8L with the 4.2-liter V8.