Tops in our round-up of the week’s most popular news is the announcement that Bruce Tartaglione has joined Affinia Group as the company’s new senior vice president of sales. Using his more than three decades of aftermarket experience, in his new position, Tartaglione will be responsible for management of a global sales organization representing the Raybestos brand and private label offerings. Tartaglione comes to Affinia from United Components Inc. of Evansville, Ind., where he served as vice president of traditional aftermarket. He has also previously held management positions with Standard Motor Products and BWD (Echlin/Dana).

In other news from the automotive supply sector, Federal-Mogul this week confirmed that the company is exploring strategic alternatives for enhancing shareholder value. While the company says it does not plan to further comment on the issue, Federal-Mogul announced that it has retained financial advisory firm Lazard to assist the company in its evaluations.

This week aftermarketNews presented a report from ImportCar Editor Mary DellaValle, who recently spent some time with the members and employees of Automotive Parts Associates (APA) during the group’s 30th annual Shareholders’ & Manufacturers’ Conference, held March 10-12 in San Diego, Calif. The event, which took place at the Manchester Grand Hyatt resort, featured time for networking opportunities between APA shareholders and vendors, several chances for those buyers and sellers to forge business relationships or strengthen existing ones, as well as discuss new products and programs, and the opportunity to celebrate all of the past year’s successes. Eight vendor awards were presented during the event. To view the list of award recipients along with photos from the meeting, click here.

Also in distribution news this week, the Automotive Distribution Network has announced the appointment of Wayne Schaack to fill the newly created position of director of product-line development, according to Mike Lambert, president of the Network. Schaack brings more than 20 years of aftermarket experience to his new role, previously serving as Parts Plus program manager and, eventually, VP of purchasing and product development for Phoenix-based Tri-City Automotive, in addition to a decade spent on the Network’s product committee.

Last in our recap of the week’s top news comes word that Akebono brakes are original equipment on this year’s Motor Trend Car of the Year – the Chevy Volt. In celebrating the news, Akebono’s Tommy Rivera acknowledged the role of the company’s R&D department in its success.

“Since Akebono was the originator of ceramic brake-pad technology, we’ve had a reputation of having the smoothest, quietest, cleanest long-lasting brake pads,” said Rivera, product development director for Akebono North America. “From the time we entered the aftermarket in 2000, it was apparent there was a demand for our products. Our OE presence helped us establish our strong leadership in the aftermarket, and we are fortunate to have an innovative R&D department that helps us maintain this position.”