Raybestos 980343 Front Disc Brake Rotor on 2040-parts.com

2014 Chrysler 200 gets a short run

Chrysler Group will cut short the Chrysler 200 sedan's 2014 model year to launch a redesigned version in January. Internal Chrysler documents indicate that the 2014 Chrysler 200 will start production in July at Chrysler's Sterling Heights plant in suburban Detroit and end in the second week of January. Normally, production of the 2014 model would run well into 2014.

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

VW road-legal Race Touareg, Gold Edition (2011)

Volkswagen has unveiled two new Touareg SUVs at the inaugural Qatar motor show. One is a rather cool road-going version of the Race Touareg 3 that’s just notched up a victory at the 2011 Dakar rally, and the other is an awful monster called the Touareg Gold Edition. Underneath the skin it’s a genuine version of the latest Race Touareg 3, with a turbocharged 2.5-litre diesel engine, a trick four-wheel drive system and a super-stiff chassis.