03-06 Element Y1 Blue 1.5" Drop Racing Suspension Lowering Springs F230/r205lb on 2040-parts.com

Demise of kei cars on the horizon?

The kei car has long been a staple of the Japanese automobile industry and its car culture. Too diminutive for Western markets, the tiny cars and trucks are a strong influencer of design in Japan. Now, as The New York Times reports, the Japanese government has hit kei cars with increases in sales tax, gasoline prices and has reduced the kei car tax break introduced to make the cars popular in the first place by 50 percent.

The first Volkswagen Beetle in America looked like this

On Jan. 17, 1949, the Holland America Line Westerdam pulled into New York Harbor from Rotterdam carrying the seed of an automotive empire. It had been only four years since Volkswagen resurrected operations in Wolfsburg, the factory heavily ruined by Allied forces and now under the command of Major Ivan Hirst.

Hyundai Veloster Turbo arrives early

Hyundai Veloster Turbo - first photos The Hyundai Veloster Turbo will arrive officially later today at the Detroit Motor Show, but we already have the first photos of Hyundai’s hot hatch. Apart from the daft looking Hyundai Hexa Space that turned up at Delhi last week, all Hyundai’s latest offerings have been pretty much on the money, none more so than the very convincing Veloster. But there was just one thing we didn’t like about the new Veloster – it’s lack of oomph.