Mercury Mercruiser 26-34217 34217 Seal, Valve @ 24 on 2040-parts.com

GM to slash global vehicle platforms by more than half, to 14, by 2018

General Motors says it will cut the number of vehicle platforms it uses globally by more than half over the next decade, in a bid to reduce complexity and save on product-development costs. “More of our components will be common, and more of our vehicles will be on global architectures,” GM CEO Dan Akerson told analysts on Tuesday. His remarks came as GM kicked off a series of presentations online, billed as its 2011 Global Business Conference.

Tour of quake zone shows Akio Toyoda 'the depth of destruction'

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda toured Japan's earthquake disaster zone, including the damaged assembly plant opened there in January, as the world's largest automaker struggles to get a grip on the supplier crisis and resume production. Toyoda's trip on Sunday and Monday took him to Miyagi prefecture, near the epicenter of the killer March 11 quake and an area being positioned by Toyota as its domestic center for small car production.

Chris Bangle to receive EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award

Chris Bangle is to receive a Lifetime Design Achievement Award from EyesOn Design. The jugers, all past winners of the award, include Walter de'Silva, Tom Gale, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chuck Jordan, Robert Lutz, Shiro Nakamura, Sergio Pininfarina and Jack Telnack. Bangle is best known for his pioneering work at BMW Group from 1992 until 2009, when he left his position of Chief of Design.