Swivl-eze Pedestal Seat Base on 2040-parts.com

June sales get a pick-me-up from pickups

If there's a bright spot in June's tepid light-vehicle sales, it came from an unlikely segment. After slumping for several years as the economy tanked and gas prices spiked, pickup demand is rising faster than the overall sales gains of most automakers--serving as a pillar once again during the industry's fledgling recovery. And most of the buyers returning to showrooms are pickup enthusiasts, automakers say.

Chevrolet Aveo 5dr (2011) first official pictures

Following the Aveo RS concept’s appearance at Detroit eight months earlier, Chevrolet has revealed the new Aveo at the 2010 Paris motor show. It’s a homegrown model this time, too, replacing the rebodied Daewoo original of 2008. The supermini takes on the aggressive family face deployed so strikingly on Chevy’s tiny Spark and compact Cruze, and there are shake-ups in the engine and transmission departments, too.

New Nissan Note production starts in Sunderland

The New Nissan Note goes in to production The new Nissan Note arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and has turned in to a proper compact hatch – with plenty of kerbside appeal – instead of the rather bland small MPV it used to be. With better looks, some nice styling detail and lots of technology on offer – like Blind Spot Monitoring, Lane Departure Warning and Moving Object Detection, the new Note looks set to have much more impact when it arrive’s in Nissan’s showrooms than the old Note ever did. That point of view is given extra credence by the 14,000 orders Nissan has received for the new Note in Europe since it went on sale in July, and now the first Notes are ready to start rolling off the production line at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland.