Mercedes Benz 400e 400se 500e 500sel Air Hose Connector / Intake Manifold Flange on 2040-parts.com

Tata will redo Nano for the U.S.

A redesigned version of India's no-frills Nano minicar will come to the United States in three years, said Ratan Tata, the billionaire boss of that country's giant Tata Group. "The U.S. is a very enticing market," Tata said in an interview.

Lorenzo Ramaciotti to head Chrysler and Lancia design

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, current head of design at Fiat Group, has been tasked with leading the design of future Chrysler and Lancia products in a bid to more than double the sales figures of the newly collaborated brands. The 63-year-old former Pininfarina designer – credited to some of the most beautiful Italian machinery of the modern era – has been asked by Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler Group LLC, to create a common styling language for the two brands that wouldn't look out of place in Detroit or Milan. Ramaciotti has made it clear that badge-engineering isn't going to be the future for the two brands and is hoping to inject a unique, but global flavor, into the two brands.

American Picked

Toney Thomas knows his junk. Ask him about any of the thousands of items--from antique BB guns to ancient boat motors, from old service-station signage to historic military gear--in his 30-foot-by-60-foot storage barn in rural Michigan, and he'll most likely have a story to tell. Thomas's penchant for collecting led to his appearance on a fall episode of the History Channel's American Pickers with celebrity junk hunters Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz.