00 Lexus Rx300 Hood Hinge 483634 on 2040-parts.com

Lexus IS Design contest-winning SEMA show car announced

The winner of the Lexus IS Design contest has been chosen, with their design to be built by VIP Auto Salon for the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Lexus and competition partner and online art community deviantART have revealed the first, second and third place winners, with Rob Evans of Seattle, Washington, taking first place. Second place went to Lucia Lee of Pasadena, California, with Guanghao Huang from Southfield, Michigan third.

Kia Track'ster (2012) first official pictures

After all the pre-launch teasing, Kia today slid the covers off the new Track'ster at the 2012 Chicago auto show. It's a slammed, hot hatch vision of what the Kia Soul could become, were the Koreans brave enough to battle it out among the VW Golf GTIs and forthcoming Polo R pocket rockets. Conceived at Kia's Californian design studio, the Track'ster is designed as a road and track car.

Kia to launch a new range-topping V8 saloon dubbed K9

Kia will build their rumoured rear-wheel drive V8 saloon - but it won't come to the UK, sources in Korea have confirmed to CAR.Following the domestic badge hierarchy, this new range-topper would logically be called the K9. Perhaps that dog-inspired badge may explain why the car won’t come to Europe, but US sales are expected.  Kia’s new range-topper: the ‘K9’ The new large Kia saloon was scheduled to be shown in 2011, but it has now been pushed back to a 2012 launch. The new saloon would sit above the front-drive 3.5-litre V6 K7/Cadenza saloon in the Kia line-up. CAR understands the new exec will be ready by May 2012.   The K9 represents the first application of sister brand Hyundai's rear-drive technology from the Genesis and Equus. Expect Hyundai's 'Tau' V8 engine under the bonnet, along with the upcoming eight-speed automatic transmission which arrived in the Genesis R-Spec saloon at the 2011 Chicago auto show.