2003 Yamaha Rx1 Complete Exhaust/silencer Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Cash for clunkers plan revives trade fight

Import brand automakers and dealers warned on Thursday that a vehicle scrappage proposal before the Senate would violate trade agreements and could weaken the economy. The Senate could vote on the plan on Thursday, which would offer $10,000 to any moderate- or low-income consumer who trades in a car or truck that is at least 10 years old and buys a new one that is more fuel-efficient and "assembled in the United States." The trade-ins would be scrapped rather than resold. The U.S.-made mandate "smacks of the protectionism that led to the Great Depression," said Barbara Nocera, the top Washington lobbyist for Mazda North American Operations.

Honda Civic 1.6-litre i-DTEC arrives

A new frugal Honda Civic has been revealed – the Civic 1.6 -DETC - promising official economy of 78.5mpg. Costs from £19,400. Honda revealed the current Civic at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011 offering an evolution in style but quite a jump in the way the Civic drives, even though it still offers Torsion Beam suspension at the back.

How CATIA for Creative Designers helps to keep Recaro in the hot seat

Dassault Systèmes' latest release, CATIA for Creative Designers, is a software solution that bundles applications to help designers imagine, create, share and experience their product designs, virtually. Johnson Controls division Keiper, is using Dassault Systèmes' latest CATIA software in the design process of its new Recaro vehicle seating systems. Mathias Gischke, Head of the Style and Surfaces department at Johnson Controls' Technical Center in Kaiserslautern, says: "13 years ago we decided to use ICEM Surf, the Class-A leading software at the time.