Visteon Alternators/starters 7861-3 Alternator/generator-reman Alternator on 2040-parts.com

Ford reportedly to shut down Mercury

The Mercury brand, rumored to be on the verge of death several times over the past decade, would be shut down under a plan being prepared for Ford Motor Co.'s board of directors, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Citing two executives who have knowledge of the plan but asked not to be identified, the news service said the plan would be submitted to Ford's board in July. How quickly Mercury would be shut down depends how quickly the automaker can convince Lincoln Mercury dealers to close or merge with a Ford-brand dealership, the report said.

Jaguar F-Type: 2013 World Car Design of the Year

The new Jaguar F-Type has been declared 2013 World Car Design of the Year at the New York Auto Show this week. We have to confess we moaned about a few details on  the F-Type when it arrived, and about the price. But we soon realised that, rather than being a pricey alternative to a Porsche Boxster, the new Jaguar F-Type was actually a real alternative to the Aston Martin Vantage – turning it in to something of a bargain offering.

Volvo creates Inflatable Child Seat

Volvo is a brand famously associated with safety, so let’s hope its latest effort doesn’t turn out to be a load of hot air: the Swedish brand has come up with a concept for an inflatable children’s car seat. Called the Volvo Inflatable Child Seat Concept, this does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s a child seat that instead of being made of rigid material can be deflated and folded away for easy carriage when not required. On Bing: see pictures of the Volvo Inflatable Child Seat Concept Find out how much a used Volvo costs on Auto Trader Noting that “children’s car seats are historically bulky, hard to move and tedious to mount,” Volvo says its new rear-facing inflatable alternative weighs just 5kg – half the weight of an equivalent conventional model.