Race Kart Sprocket Set 70-71-72-74 Teeth on 2040-parts.com

Michelin Challenge Design 2007: The not so ugly truth about rising vehicle safety standards

Can cars be safe and beautiful at the same time? That may not have been the case a few decades ago when automakers were forced to hang those big, ugly so-called federal bumpers off the ends of their vehicles.  With vehicle safety standards on the rise around the globe are designers today feeling a little '70s deja vu when it comes to meeting the challenges of making cars safe as well as more fuel efficient? "(Back then) we said it was the end of automotive styling," says Patrick Le Quement, senior vice president for corporate design at Renault and one of the world's most influential automotive designers.

VW to build engine plant in Mexico to supply Tenn. factory, source says

Volkswagen AG plans to announce Wednesday that it will build an engine plant in Mexico to supply vehicles assembled in North America, a source at the company's assembly plant in Puebla said. A VW spokesman confirmed that the company will make an announcement but declined to say what it will concern. The new plant will supply an existing VW plant in Puebla, 75 miles southeast of Mexico City, and one being built in Chattanooga, Tenn., the source said.

Driven: Volkswagen Golf Mk7

Walking up to the seventh-generation VW Golf, redesigned flip key in hand, you're in no doubt that this is a) new or – perhaps more importantly – b) a Golf. It's the "200 meter test" lead exterior designer, Andreas Mindt tells us and, while we're suspicious of the idea of self-conscious ‘iconic design', you have to concede he's right. In fact the Mk7 Golf's pared-back graphics and a return to a true two-box proportion create a more accurate vision of what we imagine when we think ‘Volkswagen Golf' than either of its two most recent predecessors.