Garmin 496 Portable Gps Aviation/personal Driving Unit, North America Database on 2040-parts.com

GM to slash global vehicle platforms by more than half, to 14, by 2018

General Motors says it will cut the number of vehicle platforms it uses globally by more than half over the next decade, in a bid to reduce complexity and save on product-development costs. “More of our components will be common, and more of our vehicles will be on global architectures,” GM CEO Dan Akerson told analysts on Tuesday. His remarks came as GM kicked off a series of presentations online, billed as its 2011 Global Business Conference.

Jaguar XK Diesel spotted?

Is this the Jaguar XK Diesel We’ve run the odd story over the last year or two about the possibility of Jaguar creating a Jaguar XK Diesel. But it hasn’t happened. Yet.

BMW 3-series Touring estate (2012) first official pictures

BMW has unveiled the new 3-series Touring estate. It goes on sale on 22 September 2012 in UK dealers, priced from £26,180. Although not a big seller globally - it accounts for just 6% of 3-series sales globally - the Touring is popular in Britain, where it makes up 15% of all Three sales.