Titanium Exhaust/header Heat Wrap, 1"x50'roll With Stainless Ties Kit+tie Tool W on 2040-parts.com

Center stack is new high-stakes battleground; showdown with safety regulators looms

For auto suppliers and gadget companies eager to get a piece of the auto industry, the hottest chunk of vehicle real estate now is the center stack. That corridor of interior space, running from the driver's right hip up through the center of the cockpit to the bottom of the windshield, has become a California gold rush of opportunity. But it is less so for traditional suppliers of molded plastics, cables, levers, buttons and radios.

Producer Michael Mann tapped to develop and direct Go Like Hell movie

Producer Michael Mann, best known for hits such as Heat, Ali and more recently, Public Enemies, is in talks with 20th Century Fox to develop and potentially direct a movie based on the A. J. Baime book Go Like Hell, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Silver linings: Saab and Mitsubishi see sales grow in May

Despite the company’s financial troubles, Saab sales are steadily increasing in 2011, with April and May numbers up 190 percent and 121 percent, respectively, from the same months last year. The Swedish automaker reported 385 units sold this May, versus 155 the year prior. So far this year, Saab has sold 2,765 vehicles, compared with 954 at the same point last year.