Siriusxm Sxv300 Connect Tuner & Marine/rv Antenna on 2040-parts.com

Mazda to recall more than 500,000 vehicles

Mazda plans to recall about 514,000 vehicles to repair power-steering systems that fail suddenly. The recall will affect the Mazda 3 and the Mazda 5 manufactured in Japan from 2007 to 2008, according to a report in Reuters. Currently, Mazda has filed recalls for 215,000 vehicles in the United States and more than 10,000 in China.

Better Place EV Battery Swap business goes bust

It seemed like a good idea: take the cost of batteries out of the cost of buying an electric car and instead charge EV owners to use ‘Battery Swap’ stations where depleted batteries could be swapped for fully charged ones in the time it takes to fill an ICE car with petrol. But it’s all gone a bit Pete Tong. Better Place – which partnered with Renault in 2009 to make the battery swap technology viable – has failed to find anyone to add to the $750 million already involved in the project and has filed for bankruptcy.

Will Volvo need a JV in China with itself?

Western car makers wanting to operate in China need a joint venture with a Chinese partner. And it looks like Volvo is going to have to partner with itself to keep officials happy. The Chinese authorities are keen to make sure that Western car makers can’t just rock up on their doorstep, open up a factory or three and flog cars in the most populous nation on earth.