04 Polaris Msx 150 Throttle Body on 2040-parts.com

Daimler-Renault alliance to delay new Smart and Twingo models, report says

Renault SA and Daimler AG, who are sharing technology to build the new Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo cars, will delay the introduction of the models by a year, according to a French newspaper. The cars will now come to market in 2014 instead of 2013, La Tribune said, citing industry sources. The next ForTwo and the third-generation Twingo will be built on Renault's A platform, with ForTwo production continuing at Smart's plant in Hambach, France, and Twingo output at Renault's Novo Mesto factory in Slovenia.

Nissan expects 20,000 initial orders for Leaf EV

Nissan North America will begin taking sales orders for its new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle next spring and expects to have 20,000 of them pre-sold by the time the model reaches U.S. showrooms in the third quarter. “We are confident we will have 20,000 reservations for the Leaf by the time it goes on sale,” Carlos Tavares, Nissan's chairman for the Americas, said Tuesday.

Auto Show: Los Angeles Auto Show gives preview into design competition

Ask automobile designers to come up with their interpretation of the 'Ultimate LA Machine' and you'll get a broad array of creative ideas. That's precisely what the LA Auto Show asked Los Angeles area automobile design studios to do - and the results are fascinating, entertaining and thought provoking. The LA Auto Show has provided a sneak peek into the competition by releasing one of the 13 entries - the Hyundai NTT, 'Entity', submitted by the Hyundai Kia America Design Center.