Ap Products Gas Spring, 80#, 35.5" 010-155 on 2040-parts.com

Peugeot Citroen idles Slovak factory over falling orders

PSA to halt production of 207 & C3 Picasso in Slovakia The news that Peugeot Citroen (PSA) is to suspend production at its factory in Trnava, Western Slovakia, as orders for cars fall away, is another sign of the impending gloom in the Euro zone car industry. PSA has revealed that the Trnava factory – which produces the Peugeot 207 and Citroen C3 Picasso – will be shut from October 28th to November 18th (a period which does include two bank holidays) as orders start to fall away and production exceeds demand. But this announcement seems to be the tip of the iceberg for PSA’s factory closures.

Volvo picks up Red Dot Design Award for new connectivity system

Volvo's Sensus Connected Touch connectivity system with the world's first voice-activated integrated Spotify connection has been awarded a 2013 Red Dot Design Award. The Sensus Connected Touch accessory turns the integrated 7-inch display into an infrared, beam-scanned touch screen that can be used even when wearing gloves. The system can be controlled using the touchscreen, the steering wheel or the center stack, while you can also voice-activate all music sources. Alain Visser, senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer service at Volvo, says, "The Red Dot Design Award confirms that this approach to an intuitive, human-centric user experience fulfils modern car owners' desire to remain constantly connected also when driving." The WiFi connection can be made using either a car-mounted 3G/4G-dongle or the driver's mobile phone, and the data is transferred by the WiFi between the phone and the Sensus Connected Touch.

Redesigned Mercedes-Benz M-class takes to the road for testing

Mercedes-Benz gave its M-class SUV a mild freshening last year. But a more-thorough makeover is on the way two years from now for the 2012 model. These prototypes--the first we've seen of the new M-class--are wearing a lot of camouflage, but through the nose opening we spy a sharper grille design that looks similar to the GLK.