Ventshade New Bug Shield Ford Explorer Mercury Mountaineer 1997-2001 on 2040-parts.com

Chrysler in crisis

By Liz Turner, in the US Motor Industry 02 March 2007 04:28 The trouble with Chrysler: the background In 1996 when Chrysler opened its $1.1bn headquarters in Auburn Hills, 30 miles north of Detroit, executives joked that if things didn’t work out, they could always sell it as a shopping mall. Following DaimlerChrysler’s annual press conference on 14 February, local realtors are, no doubt, sneaking in to take measurements. Chrysler Group announced a staggering operating loss of $1.5 billion for 2006, and in the subsequent question time, DaimlerChrysler’s CEO Dieter Zetsche said the company ‘will examine far-reaching strategic options with partners’.

California racetrack serves wine in a can

A NASCAR race may be a prime place for knocking back cold beers, but those looking to class up their racing libations can now reach for a chilled Flasq wine in an aluminum can shaped like a bottle. Sonoma Valley, Calif.'s, Infineon Raceway, the site of one of NASCAR's road-course races, has entered into a partnership with California-based Flasq, which is domestic wine sold in quick-chilling and 100 percent recyclable bottles. Starting with this weekend's Ferrari challenge, Flasq will be available at the track throughout the 2011 racing season.

2013 Ford Kuga goes in to production

The new (2013) Ford Kuga crossover – which debuted at Geneva in the Spring – has now gone in to production in Spain ahead of first customer car deliveries. Ford has announced it’s finally started to churn out the new Kuga at its plant in Valencia, and that the Kuga will be heading to Ford’s UK showrooms to get customer cars out in the new year. Despite starting production of the new Kuga, Ford still hasn’t come up with prices for its compact crossover, but says they will be available before the end of the year. On offer in the new Kuga is a range of new technology including the kick-to-open tailgate, Active Park Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring Torque Vectoring Control, SYNC and the first use of Ford’s EcoBoost engines in the Kuga (although no sign yet that the 1.0 litre EcoBoost will be added to the Kuga).