2012 Ford Focus Owner's Manual With Case on 2040-parts.com

Exclusive: Laurens van den Acker to replace Patrick le Quément at Renault

The wheels of change are continuing to turn within the automotive design industry, with yet another new appointment being made at the director level. According to industry insiders, Laurens van den Acker is set become the new Design Director at Renault when Patrick le Quément retires later this year. One of the most pre-eminent car designers in the world, Patrick le Quément began his design career at Simca, worked at Ford for 17 years and did a brief stint at Volkswagen before taking the top design job at Renault.

Mazda Ryuga concept

Mazda North America has released a sketch of its Mazda Ryuga concept to be shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The Mazda Ryuga builds on Mazda's design language 'flow,' most recently seen in the Nagare concept shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Ryuga is Japanese for "gracious flow," and makes use of 'rich fabrics, engineered fits and hidden details,' according to Mazda.

Volkswagen iBeetle takes iPhone integration to another level

When we’re all walking round with Smartphones that possess the sort of computing power only a major desktop could offer just a few years ago, it makes sense for car makers to tap in to that power to control functionality and Infotainment in their cars. Which is why Volkswagen has rolled out the iBeetle at this week’s Shanghai Motor Show with a level of integration with Smartphones from Apple, and that previews a roll-out of Apple integration from VW, offering far more functionality and control than we’ve seen before. Or at least that’s the VW claim.