Mopar Window Crank Handle #1602540 on 2040-parts.com

Toyota Prius: Battery bottleneck limits Prius Output

Battery bottlenecks are hurting efforts to boost output of the Toyota Prius to meet booming demand, and the problem will likely persist into next year, a Toyota official says. "The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement. "Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand.

Call for Entries: CDN-GM Interactive Design Competition 2012

With temperatures soaring across North America, there's no better time to hunker down in an air-conditioned room with your pen, vellum, and markers (or, more realistically, your computer and tablet) and get working on your entries into the GM Interactive Design Competition 2012.  It's only been a month since the official launch of the 2012 GM Interactive Design Competition and we're already seeing strong participation and a very high level of quality for the entries. Open to all full-time college or university students from across the US and Canada, this competition is a great way to gain exposure, but also to keep up and improve your skills over the summer. With five paid internships (housing included) at GM's studios in Warren, MI up for grabs, there's no better launchpad for your career in the automotive industry, and getting your entries online early also gives you a head-start on the competition by allowing the public and mentors to critique and review your work.

Ford and GM tie-in with Apple

Having established a relationship with Nike for recycling materials as demonstrated on the Ford Reflex concept, Ford has now joined GM in collaborating with Apple to ensure their cars are iPod compatible. Rather than the retrofitted wire many drivers have had to resort to, cars will offer a bespoke area in the glove compartment that also acts as a charging point, the iPod instead controlled through the car?s GUI. By the end of the year, 70% of all new models sold in America are expected to be iPod compatible, an arrangement that furthers Apple?s continuing domination of the MP3-player market and one that will introduce Apple to the car-computer market, anticipated to be worth $6billion by 2010.