03 04 05 06 Audi A8 Coil/ignitor 4.2l 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.

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

Alfa Romeo reveals new 1.8 litre turbo engine with up to 300bhp

New Alfa Romeo 1.8 litre turbo engine - destined for the Alfa 4C Alfa Romeo are on something of a push to make themselves seem a viable part of the Fiat setup, with a plan to push hard in to America (although that keeps getting delayed) and new product on the horizon. One of those new products is the Alfa 4C which we expected to get a version of the existing Alf 1750 lump with around 250bhp. But it looks like that’s not going to be the case after all.