18373-ha7-671 Muffler Band on 2040-parts.com

Four car design schools to compete in Ferrari design contest

 Ferrari, in collaboration with Pininfarina, has laid down a global challenge for students of car design. The project, called 'Ferrari: new concepts for the myth', will see students from four of the world's best automotive design schools compete to create new concepts for future Ferraris. The four schools are: Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Tokyo Communication Arts, Coventry University School of Art and Design, and the European Institute of Design in Turin.

BMW i3 EV WILL get BMW motorcycle engine as range extender

BMW’s head of R&D, Herbert Diess, has confirmed the BMW i3 EV will come with the option of a range extender engine. BMW’s head of R&D, Herbert Diess, has confirmed to Automotive News that when the i3 arrives in BMW showrooms at the end of 2013 it will be offered with a range extending engine as well as a pure EV. The range extender engine will be housed in the boot and is derived from a BMW motorcycle engine, and will turn the i3 from a small EV, useful only in confined city environs with a range of around 40 miles, in to a small runaround that has a range of 250 miles.

Land Rover Defender to be built in Sri Lanka

The Land Rover Defender is to be built outside the UK in a new plant in Sri Lanka to produce Defenders for the region. Land Rover are assisting and training staff at a new assembly plant in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, run by Sathosa Motors PLC in a 50-50 deal with Land Rover distributors SML Frontier Automotive, with $1 million being invested to get the project up and running this year. It seems clear from the level of investment that this is simply an assembly operation using CKD kits from the UK for the Defender, but Sri Lank’s Daily News is reporting that there are plans to invest $500 million in the project.