Usa Industries 8242-5 Alternator/generator-reman Alternator on 2040-parts.com

Volkswagen plans 4 million cars from one platform

Volkswagen is pushing the global-platform concept to a level unprecedented in the auto industry, introducing a modular platform this summer that eventually will be the basis of microcars, sedans, crossovers and SUVs for its four largest brands. While automakers now share platforms across brands and sometimes even segments, the VW initiative that starts this summer is far more ambitious than anything seen so far. By 2017, some analysts estimate, the MQB platform that debuts with the Audi A3 eventually will be used in 4 million units a year--close to half of VW's annual production.

Happy 58th birthday, Chevrolet Corvette

Fifty-eight years ago, on June 30, 1953, the first production Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the temporary assembly line in Flint, Mich. This was just six months after the Corvette made its world debut at the 1953 GM Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The Flint line would build 300 copies of the '53 Corvette--all of them white, with red interiors and black folding tops.

Drink-and-drive deaths down in 2007

By Tom Richards Motor Industry 08 August 2008 12:08 The latest figures from the Department for Transport show the number of people killed in drink-driving accidents in the UK fell in 2007. According to the data the number of fatal accidents dropped by 16 percent from 2006 to 2007 (from 490 to 410), while the number of deaths in these accidents fell 18 percent (down to 460 in 2007 from 650 in 2006). But while the number of deaths is going down, hospitals are still being kept busy as drink-drive casualties rose from 11,840 in 2006 to 12,260 in 2007, a jump of four percent.