Magnaflow Exhaust Systems - 15094 on 2040-parts.com

Driving the Chevy Volt isn't special, and that's good

We've had our first taste of the drive system under development for General Motors' pioneering Chevrolet Volt, piloting a test mule based on the Chevrolet Cruze at the company's Warren (Mich.) Technical Center, and it left us hungering for more. Yes, it's an electric car, but mostly, it's a car--one you could imagine driving every day without feeling as if you were engaged in a lab experiment. Frank Weber, vehicle line executive for the Volt, gets his nose out of joint if you call the drive system a hybrid.

Stile Bertone goes independent

Stile Bertone is to forge an independent future under a new managing director by splitting with its coachbuilding arm and following a new business strategy. The changes were rubber-stamped at a meeting in Turin on Monday. The new managing director is former Aprilia CEO Teresio Gaudio, who has been a consultant to the Bertone family while the future of the business was sorted out.

New-car smell less toxic but not safe, Ecology Center says

The Ecology Center released its fourth consumer guide to toxic chemicals last week, and the news is better. The amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in new cars has decreased, but we still have a ways to go. VOCs in plastics and flame retardants have been linked to a variety of acute and long-term health concerns.