Western Turbine Wheel Rim Aluminum 14 X 8 Unilug Chevy Ford Mopar D2567 on 2040-parts.com

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.

Subaru BRZ Turbo confirmed

Subaru BRZ Turbo - which should be good for 300bhp Subaru in the US has confirmed that they are planning to build a turbo version of the new Boxer engine in the BRZ to create the Subaru BRZ Turbo. Finally, after promises that it was on its way for what seems like ever, we saw the arrival of the production versions of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota FT-86  at Tokyo (which had a small name change and arrive as the GT86). But what was a disappointment was that despite Subaru saying the BRZ would come with ‘less than 300bhp’, it actually came with almost exactly the same power as the GT 86 – a much less enticing 200bhp.

Crunch watch Dec 09: the auto industry in crisis

Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the seismic change in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Wednesday 30 December 2009• Saab's PR chief told AN that GM is extending the deadline for a sale to 7 January – and the Trollhattan factory will resume limited manufacturing in early January to build the new 9-5 and some 9-3 cabrios (Automotive News, subscription required)• Last night Bloomberg reported a Saab board member claiming that the 31 December deadline for a Saab sale or closure 'is not holy'. If GM receives a bid that is 'sufficiently interesting', it'll extend the deadline, said the Saab suit (Automotive News, subscription required)• GM is offering massive discounts on Pontiac and Saturn cars, as it seeks to get rid of the remaining stock from these terminated brands.