Mercruiser 42423 Upper Exhaust Elbow on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes signs joint venture to build carbonfibre parts

Not to be outdone by BMW’s joint venture with the SGL Group to manufacturer commercially viable carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the electric Megacity Vehicle, Mercedes has announced a joint venture with Japanese company Toray Industries to manufacturer and market its on CFRP automotive parts. The deal was signed in Germany today, with Toray taking a 50.1% stake, Daimler holding 44.9% and the remaining 5% being taken by other shareholders. The two companies started working together in March 2010, and while Toray has been working on the materials and moulding processes, Merc has designed the automotive parts and the technologies to join the parts together.

Alcraft Motor Company crowns competition winners

If you’re looking at that picture above and thinking, “that looks like a smart Range Rover Evoque,” don’t worry – you’re not seeing things. It is indeed a ‘re-imagined’, restyled version of Land Rover’s luxury compact SUV, by Alcraft Motor Company competition winner Jed Sheahan. On Bing: see pictures of Alcraft Motor Company cars Find out how much a used Range Rover costs on Auto Trader Alcraft is a new British brand performing bespoke re-engineering and design projects on famous vehicles from Blighty.

2014 Volvo XC90 to get a raft of new safety technology

The 2014 Volvo XC90 (pictured) will get a whole raft of new safety technology We know that the Volvo XC90 will be replaced (finally) next year with a new XC90 using Volvo’s new SPA platform and powered by their new range of 4-cylinder, high efficiency engines. We’ve also got a clue or two about how the new XC90 will look thanks to a design exercise by Volvo’s designers in 2011 to create their vision of the next generation XC90. Now we get details of some of the technology we can expect in the new XC90 as Volvo works towards their target of making sure no one gets killed in a Volvo involved in an accident by 2020.