08 09 10 11 Focus Engine Motor 2.0l 4 Cylinder 62k Oem on 2040-parts.com

GM closes UK Advanced Design Studio

CDN has learnt that General Motors is closing its UK Advanced Design Studio as part of its ongoing restructuring program. Clay Dean, GM's executive director of advanced global design and Cadillac's brand director, arrived at the studio on 4 August to announce the closure to staff. The UK studio, which opened in 1999, was predominantly involved in the creation of Cadillac concept cars and was originally planned to be a short-term confidential operation as the smallest of GM's design studios.

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.

GM and PSA announce four joint vehicle programs

PSA Peugeot/Citroën and General Motors have confirmed they will develop four future vehicle projects as part of their ‘Global Strategic Alliance' as both parties grapple with dwindling sales and spiraling costs in the European market. The first is a joint program for a compact-class MPV for Opel/Vauxhall and a compact-class Crossover Utility Vehicle for the Peugeot brand. The second project has been confirmed as a joint MPV program for the small car segment for Opel/Vauxhall and the Citroën brand.