Used Original 1967 Corvette Convertible Deck Lid on 2040-parts.com

Car Designers Blackmailed

A London court has found former design student Guy Lloyd-Parker guilty of blackmailing US car designers. The London College of Fashion graduate had claimed that 95 car design sketches were stolen from him by two college lecturers in 1994, eventually resurfacing as final designs in the form of the Audi TT, BMW Z3, Mazda RX-8 and the Volvo XC90. Lloyd-Parker, having failed to successfully sue the college, began sending menacing letters to California-based Volvo Design Director Geza Loczi, former BMW and Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker, and ex-Mazda designer Tsutomu Matano demanding £90,000.

Autoweek's 2014 Best of the Best Finalists -- sneak peek

Every year, as hundreds of new cars and trucks pass through our fleet for evaluation, we are always on the lookout for those dazzling few deserving more careful scrutiny for our top honors, the Autoweek Best of the Best. It's down to three cars and three trucks that our regular readers quickly will recognize in the video above, designed to whet your appetite as we get further along in the judging. We'll be bringing you full details on our Best of the Best/Car and Best of the Best/Truck finalists in the coming days, along with updates as we get closer to announcing our winners in the December 23 issue of Autoweek.

Jaguar Land Rover reveals huge profits growth

Jaguar Land Rover has reported half-year profits have broken the £1 billion barrier, with profit before tax of £1.083 billion marking a massive 42% year-on-year increase. Profits in the last three months alone were £668 million, said the firm. MORE new British jobs for Jaguar Land Rover Range Rover: why it is already battling Bentley The strong results are thanks to continued sales growth for the two British luxury car brands: sales over the past three months increases 21% to 102,644 cars – beating even the half-year sales rise of 16% to just over 197,000 vehicles.