Cadillac Allante 87 Oem Trunk Rubber Seal on 2040-parts.com

New 2013 Nissan Note gets more appealing

The new Nissan Note has turned in to a Ford Fiesta basher as Nissan turn the Note from a boring little MPV in to a convincing small hatch. We did think the Invitation would be watered down to produce a slightly titivated new Note for production, but much of the style has found its way through in to the new Note – which we first saw in the JDM Nissan Note last summer – and the Note now looks set to take on proper compact hatches like the Ford Fiesta. The nose of the new Note is now more convincing – with new headlights and grill – and the doors get a great big feature crease that looks like a giant smoothing iron has stamped its mark, although Nissan say it’s a ‘Squash Line’  whose ‘angles were inspired by the flight of a fast moving squash ball travelling around a court’.

CAR interviews Ian Callum (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

With XK, XF, XJ and F-type, design boss Ian Callum has transformed Jaguar from a brand unable to shake off its retro past into something edgier, cooler and altogether more modern. Now his C-X17 concept promises to take things a step further, breaking Jaguar into the crossover SUV market for the first time ever. CAR caught up with Callum ahead of the concept’s official unveil for an in-depth Q&A session.

Mahindra XUV500 heading for Europe

Mahindra & Mahindra – India’s biggest SUV maker – is heading for Europe with the Mahindra XUV500 SUV. Mahindra & Mahindra are India’s biggest maker of SUVs, but are perhaps best known in Europe for the Ssangyong brand, but they’re on a quest to be major car player in the rest of the world, not just India. That quest is behind their acquisition of failing Korean car maker Ssangyong and the attempt to grab what was left of Saab from the liquidators.