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Byline: John Irwin As the electric vehicle era dawns, automakers are looking left and right for ways to make their vehicles more efficient and to streamline their manufacturing. Because of [...]

Byline: Nathan Eddy The roomier interiors featured in the wave of full-electric vehicles coming to market have led Swedish supplier Autoliv to adapt its key passive safety solution. Last month, [...]

Byline: Urvaksh Karkaria McLaren's freshest supercar, the 750S, is also the lightest, most powerful production model in the British marque's lineup. The 750S, a performance and styling evolution of the [...]

Byline: John Irwin A new leather-wrapping solution developed by French supplier Faurecia could allow automakers to make more unique designs in their vehicle interiors and localize more of the production [...]

Byline: John Irwin Now that autos are moving toward high-powered battery voltage, the industry is turning new attention toward making sure the flow can stop on a dime when needed. [...]

Byline: John Irwin and Peter Sigal Valeo unveiled a third-generation, long-range scanning lidar during last week's CES that can 'detect objects invisible to the human eye, cameras and radar' at [...]

Byline: John Irwin The car seat of the future will know if you're stressed out or groggy by measuring your heartbeat and other vital signs. And then it will adapt [...]

Byline: Richard Truett Visteon Corp. engineers have developed a heating and air conditioning unit that would create significantly more cabin space. In today's vehicles, heating and air conditioning components are [...]

Byline: Dustin Walsh All roads lead to California -- at least when it comes to TI Automotive's plastic fuel tank system, Tank Advanced Process Technology. In the 1990s, the Golden [...]

ACQUISITIONS Agree Realty Corp., Farmington Hills, acquired two single-tenant assets leased to Wal-Mart Stores and AutoZone. The Wal-Mart asset, which operates as a Sam's Club, is a 147,771-square-foot store in [...]

ACQUISITIONS Agree Realty Corp., Farmington Hills, acquired a Dollar General Market in Statham, Ga., an AutoZone in North Las Vegas, Nev., and a Family Dollar in Memphis, Tenn. Website: www.agree [...]

Byline: Hans Greimel Honda-affiliated supplier Yachiyo Industry Co. wants to boost sales of sunroofs and plastic fuel tanks to overseas automakers as it tries to diversify away from its top [...]

ACQUISITIONS Michigan Fleet Service, Roseville, was acquired by Star Truck Rentals Inc., Grand Rapids. Ally Financial Inc., Detroit, reached an agreement to sell its Mexican insurance business, ABA Seguros, Monterrey, [...]

Byline: ROGER HART Oftentimes, the removal of a car's top makes the resulting convertible look like some sort of a design experiment, where the lines just don't look right. Not [...]

Byline: David Sedgwick A new method to reduce driver distraction, the touch pad, has gained a foothold in the industry. TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. has introduced an infotainment touch pad [...]

ACQUISITIONS Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC, Livonia, acquired a stake in One on One Marketing, American Fork, Utah, a provider of sales leads to online educational institutions. Fisher/Unitech, Troy, has acquired [...]

Vibration control company Vibracoustic, part of the Freudenberg Group, has developed a new 'ultra-flexible airspring for the Audi V8, a 5 Feb company statement said. The new airspring features a [...]

CONTRACTS Sunset Malibu, Malibu, Calif., an addiction recovery rehabilitation company, has selected advertising agency Western Creative Inc., Redford Township, as its agency of record. 118 Interactive Design, Oak Park, a [...]

Much attention is paid to new advanced batteries and fuel-cell technologies that promise to power the vehicles of the future. But one local group now part of Auburn Hills-based Continental [...]

GKN Driveline is launching next year a new line of driveshafts that contain the first major innovation in constant velocity joint technology since modern driveshaft principles were patented in the [...]

Byline: April Wortham When Keyless Go debuted on the 1999 Mercedes-Benz S class, the days of the humble car key seemed numbered. The credit-card-sized device, pioneered by German electronics giant [...]

Byline: Jamie LaReau Twenty years ago, vehicle safety technologies designed to protect occupants in a crash started at the moment of impact. Safety engineers sought to shave milliseconds from the [...]

Robert Bosch LLC Farmington Hills, Mich. Category: Product For: Bosch iBolt weight sensor for occupant classification Robert Bosch modified the bolts that fasten a car seat to the vehicle frame [...]

Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. Lippstadt, Germany Category: Product Europe For: Full-LED headlamp Hella's new front lighting system, standard on the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum, is the first on an [...]

ACQUISITIONS TRW Automotive U.S. L.L.C., Livonia, a subsidiary of TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., has acquired Michelin North America Inc.'s stake in the EnTire Solutions L.L.C. joint venture. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS [...]

Byline: NATALIE NEFF Already on sale in Europe in the Outback and Legacy (This Week, Feb. 25), Subaru's boxer turbodiesel engine finds a new home under the hood of the […]

The launch of the Lincoln MKS this month is expected to bolster Inalfa Roof Systems Inc. as the North American leader in panoramic sunroof systems, the company says. Inalfa's North [...]

Byline: Natasha Robinson Automotive sensor supplier Sensata Technologies Inc. last week displayed features aimed at improving seat belt alert systems. The technology, called a piezo electric sensor wire, is beneath [...]

Byline: David Barkholz Johnson Controls Inc. is pushing for lighter, snazzier and more functional interiors with new products such as a slim seat that offers more legroom to back-seat passengers. [...]

Byline: Alexandra Haack Bourns has developed a heat-resistant sensor for use in engine compartments. The resistance film consists of polymers, conducting particles and additives. The additives are imprinted onto a [...]

Byline: Alexandra Haack Because many automakers want all their controls to have an identical, comfortable tactile sensation, Sateco has developed a new series of silicon keypads that allow more adjustments. [...]

Byline: Alexandra Haack Control systems specialist Preh GmbH aims to deliver better driver control of the cockpit with its freely programmable push buttons. An LCD-based projection process allows a variety [...]

Byline: Tony Lewin United Kingdom supplier GKN Driveline says it has developed two lighter low-friction joints that reduce noise and vibration, save fuel and let vehicles turn in a tighter [...]

The latest innovations in headlamps appear to be patterned after the human eye. Instead of aiming in one direction, the headlamps move in the direction the car is turning. Valeo, [...]

LENOX INSTRUMENT CO. has introduced the Lenox VideoFlex Series videoscope, a high-resolution remote imaging system featuring 4-way tip articulation and an integrated control-display hand piece with a 6.4-inch LCD display. [...]

DIESELCRAFT FLUID ENGINEERING has developed a low-cost water sensor kit. The probe assembly uses a sending unit and a panel-mounted indicator light. The probe can be mounted in some water [...]

Byline: Lillie Guyer Wireless hand-held computers are the latest item in the automotive retailing tool box. Consider the Laser Appraiser (laserappraiser.com). The device is a modified Intermec 700 series Pocket [...]

Byline: Tim Moran Gentex Corp. has created an automated system using a computer-chip camera that can increase the safe use of high-beam headlamps. How it works The system's camera watches [...]

Toyota and powertrain specialist Aisin are working on automatic transmissions with 'more than seven' speeds. Independently, the two companies admitted that their research has led to transmission systems with more [...]

Denso will launch a 2000-bar common-rail diesel system in 2007 - just five years after the arrival of its 1800-bar system. The Japanese partsmaker says the higher pressure system will [...]

The Champ Car World Series announced its new chassis and engine package slated to debut in 2007. The big change: The new chassis is more than a foot shorter, 3.5 […]

Dodge dollars Dodge's all-new 2006 Viper SRT10 Coupe, packing an 8.3-liter (505-cid), 500-hp, 525-lb-ft V10, goes on sale in October for $83,995 (including freight). Too pricey? Dodge also announced a […]

Byline: ANDREW LUU Spyker is using this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance to launch its latest model, the C12 LaTurbie powered by an Audi W12 with 500 hp and 443 […]

Byline: NATALIE NEFF For those who can't afford one of his million-dollar Ridler Award-winning confections, Chip Foose has unfurled his impeccable hot-rodding talents on the 2006 Ford Mustang to create […]

Byline: MARK VAUGHN Remember Baldwin-Motion, the New York Chevy dealer partnered with Motion Performance to take stock Camaros, Chevelles, Novas and Corvettes and build them into big-block street supremacy from […]

HENDRICKSON has introduced an air disc brake package as a premium option on many of its Intraax and Vantraax suspension systems. Especially suitable for haulers with demanding brake usage and [...]

Lexus wants its RX400h hybrid SUV to win it sales from people who like to be the first to try new technology. Called first adopters by some, Lexus calls them [...]

Volvo trick top Volvo's second-generation C70, which makes its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, abandons the strategy from the first- generation model of offering a fixed-roof […]

JOHNSTON SWEEPER CO. has introduced the 240-horsepower Cummins turbocharged diesel engine in its Model 4000 street sweeper. The sweeper is a 5.6- cubic-yard mechanical machine capable of sweeping at speeds [...]

Byline: Edmund Chew About 50 hybrid models will be on sale globally by 2010, and supplier Robert Bosch GmbH wants its technology in at least 10 of them, said Bernd [...]