Chinese Interceptor 300 Clutch Basket on 2040-parts.com

June sales get a pick-me-up from pickups

If there's a bright spot in June's tepid light-vehicle sales, it came from an unlikely segment. After slumping for several years as the economy tanked and gas prices spiked, pickup demand is rising faster than the overall sales gains of most automakers--serving as a pillar once again during the industry's fledgling recovery. And most of the buyers returning to showrooms are pickup enthusiasts, automakers say.

BMW leads Audi, Mercedes-Benz in June global luxury-sales race

BMW AG's core brand topped rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz, selling 134,432 cars worldwide in June, a rise of 12.3 percent over 2010 figures, the company said today. Mercedes sold a record 120,510 units in June, a rise of 6.4 percent, topping Audi, which saw June sales grew 19 percent to 117,650 cars last month. BMW brand's global deliveries, boosted by sales of the new 5-series sedan and X3 SUV, rose 17.8 percent to 689,861 units in the first six months of the year, ahead of Audi's 17.7 percent rise to 652,950 cars.

A heavy key chain may deactivate the airbags in your Chevy Cobalt or Pontiac G5

GM is recalling 788,000 Cobalt and Pontiac G5 sedans for a potentially deadly problem with the ignition system. When the vehicles' keys are connected to heavy key chains (or, say, key rings laden with a dozen extra keys), a sufficiently extreme jolt or impact could shift the ignition out of the "run" position and into the "off" position. Cuts electrical power to the vehicles' systems, in turn deactivating the airbags.