Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Regulator on 2040-parts.com

Tesla opens its patents for everyone to share EV knowledge

By Michael Karkafiris Motor Industry 13 June 2014 10:43 Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and one of the most talked-about personalities in the automotive industry, announced today that his company has opened all of its patents to make way for the competition to catch up and promote electric mobility for a wider audience. Open-sourcing your patents is a rather unusual strategy in the automotive world but Musk says that ‘Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal.

Vintage photos show Ford Mustang I and the elusive XD Cobra

It's hardly surprising that our readers want to share their memories of the Ford Mustang -- 50 years is a long time for an automotive nameplate to endure, and the model's upcoming 50th anniversary is as good excuse as any to look back on the experiences that have made the car an enthusiast hit. Take William Drew, who had a close encounter with pony car history when he saw the Mustang I concept, plus a rare Ghia-bodied Shelby Cobra concept, at an auto dealer in Dallas in 1970. His slides (taken with a Yashica camera, he notes) show the unusual cars in the nice, bright colors of Kodachrome.

Kia GT concept (2011) at Frankfurt motor show

When CAR visited Kia’s Korean test facility in Namyang back in April 2011, there were several clues to suggest the company was looking into some kind of high-performance saloon: we saw an M3 and a Nissan GT-R in the car park, plus a senior engineer told us that he and the team often pondered what it would be like to build a – very specific this – V6 turbo, rear-wheel drive sports coupe. Board members, meanwhile, suggested we wait until the 2011 Frankfurt motor show to see what performance treats they had planned. Well, here’s the first glimpse of what all those clues could mean: the Kia GT.