Paxton Supercharger on 2040-parts.com

Automakers switch to new engine oil for more efficiency, better protection

Automakers are going to great lengths to get more miles per gallon from their vehicles and everything is being looked at--even the engine oil. Every 2011 General Motors car rolls off the assembly line with the engine filled with a new generation of oil. Other automakers, such as Ford Motor Co.

BYD aims to bring electric vehicle to North America by 2011 or 2012

Chinese firm BYD Auto is aiming to bring at least one electric vehicle to North America by 2011 or 2012, and is considering building an assembly plant in the United States, it said Monday at the Detroit Auto Show. The automaker showed the e6, an electric vehicle, and two other hybrid cars at the show. The e6 has room for five and has a range of 250 miles, BYD says.

Interior Motives China Conference to explore new design directions

Chinese consumers are driving new design directions, and CDN's Interior Motives China Conference in Beijing next week is set to explore how. Titled ‘New brands and the search for a design identity', the conference features an impressive speaker line-up that blends the international (Chris Bangle and VW's Wolfgang Muller Pietralla) with the regional (GM PATAC's Friedhelm Engler, Ford China's Chelsia Lau and PSA-Peugeot/Citroën China's Robert Walker), with the domestic (Shan Wei of the Beijing Automotive Technical Center (BATC), and Ken Ma of SAIC). The annual conference is the third in China to be hosted by CDN's magazine Interior Motives, and will be held on Wednesday 21 April, and Thursday 22 April, just in advance of the opening of Auto China 2010 in Beijing on Friday (23 April).