1964 Buick Wildcat Rear View Mirror Arm 4 Door Hardtop (non Posted Car) 64 on 2040-parts.com

Japan's concept cars - the craziest of the noughties

By Alex Michaelides Motor Shows 19 August 2009 10:00 Here we are, celebrating the best cars that Japan has produced, but what about the ones it hasn’t? At many motor shows – and particularly ones in its back yard – the Japanese industry serves up some wild concept cars which boggle the brain and tickle the ribs. It’s hardly surprising that few of them hit the mainstream.

Maserati Ghibli

Maserati has unveiled the first images of the 2013 Ghibli ahead of its official debut next week at the Shanghai Auto Show. While the Ghibli badge has previously been reserved for coupés – both Giugiaro's 1967 original and Gandini's Biturbo-based 1992 Ghibli II – this is a four-door sports sedan to sit below the larger Quattroporte revealed in January at the North American International Auto Show. It's the first time the carmaker has built a car for the E-segment since the 1994 Quattroporte IV and is set to challenge high end of the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-series in AMG and M5 guises respectively.

Toyota Aygo gets new engine technology to make it more economical

The new Toyota Aygo (pictured) gets new engine tech The new Toyota Aygo has only just arrived as Toyota’s part of the city car triumvirate which includes the new Citroen C1 and new Peugeot 108, but its already set to get improvements. Toyota have been playing with the little 1.0 litre three-cylinder that lurks under the bonnet of the majority of Aygos, and have managed to do some serious tweaking. The tweaks include a higher compression ratio of 11.5:1, a cooled exhaust gas recirculation system, changes to the timing, better combustion, less friction and lower weight.