Volkswagen Golf R confirmed for America

Enthusiasts spoke, and Volkswagen listened. VW announced Thursday that the diminutive and powerful Golf R is coming to the United States in 2012. VW said the Golf R will have a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with a significant increase in horsepower over the 200-hp GTI.

Interior Motives China Conference to explore new design directions

Chinese consumers are driving new design directions, and CDN's Interior Motives China Conference in Beijing next week is set to explore how. Titled ‘New brands and the search for a design identity', the conference features an impressive speaker line-up that blends the international (Chris Bangle and VW's Wolfgang Muller Pietralla) with the regional (GM PATAC's Friedhelm Engler, Ford China's Chelsia Lau and PSA-Peugeot/Citroën China's Robert Walker), with the domestic (Shan Wei of the Beijing Automotive Technical Center (BATC), and Ken Ma of SAIC). The annual conference is the third in China to be hosted by CDN's magazine Interior Motives, and will be held on Wednesday 21 April, and Thursday 22 April, just in advance of the opening of Auto China 2010 in Beijing on Friday (23 April).

Nissan GT-R sets new Nurburgring lap record

Nissan GT-R Nurburgring record By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 14 May 2009 15:45 Nissan today revealed it had smashed its own internal lap record of the Nurburgring in the new R35 GT-R. For some this is manna from anorak heaven; of course, others will dismiss it as yet more hype about a rare-groove racetrack with little relevance to the man on the street. Whatever your view, it’s still pretty impressive.