Audi A4 B8 8k2 (2008) Left Front Door Control Module 8k0959792a on 2040-parts.com

Lorenzo Ramaciotti to head Chrysler and Lancia design

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, current head of design at Fiat Group, has been tasked with leading the design of future Chrysler and Lancia products in a bid to more than double the sales figures of the newly collaborated brands. The 63-year-old former Pininfarina designer – credited to some of the most beautiful Italian machinery of the modern era – has been asked by Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler Group LLC, to create a common styling language for the two brands that wouldn't look out of place in Detroit or Milan. Ramaciotti has made it clear that badge-engineering isn't going to be the future for the two brands and is hoping to inject a unique, but global flavor, into the two brands.

Mercedes GLA Concept: OFFICIAL

Aimed at cars like the BMW X1 and Audi Q3, the GLA is a good-looking compact SUV that carries much of what’s good about the new A-Class, raises its ride height, adds a few butch bits and creates a car that will probably have more appeal for owners of the old A-Class than the new A-Class does. The GLA heading for the Shanghai Motor Show sports a 2.0 litre turbo with 208bp, 4MATIC and a 7G-DCT gearbox – which we guess makes it a GLA 250 – and sports something new – laser headlights that function as projectors. The GLA features a pair of cameras on the front of the roof rails that can take 3D HD images and can be removed if you want to use them for mountain biking or jet-skiing or whatever floats your sporty boat.

Peel P50 back in business

Did you know you can buy a brand new Peel P50? That’s the tiny three-wheeled microcar Jeremy Clarkson famously drove around the inside of BBC Television Centre for an episode of Top Gear in 2007, and holder of the Guinness world’s smallest production car title for over 50 years. Turns out it was put back into production in 2010, and is now assembled under licence by a company called Grasshopper in Nottingham.