Beck Arnley 045-0352 Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve on 2040-parts.com

Daihatsu's funky Cube rival on the way

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 29 September 2006 08:01 Daihatsu is on the verge of giving its boxy Materia supermini – which made its European debut in Paris - the green light for UK imports. If given the green light the spacious five-seater, which is already on sale in Japan, would arrive here next spring as a stand-alone topend model. The Materia is very similar to Nissan's does-it-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin Cube, which has been super popular with Japanese kids.

Kia GT4 Stinger concept gets serious about performance, style

The Detroit auto show reveal of the Kia GT4 Stinger concept confirms what we suspected all along: The the strategic shadows that hid much of the car in preview photos concealed a clean, 2+2 fastback coupe. Though Kia claims there's no plans to put the car production as-shown, it's a tantalizingly plausible glimpse of where the automaker could go. And we like it.

Book Review: Masters of Modern Car Design

Authors Bart Lenaerts and Lies Del Mol Publisher Waft ISBN 978-9081482042 Price €60 Available from http://www.waft.be/ There are surprisingly few books dedicated to car designers and fewer still that scratch below the surface of the slick, sharply-suited PR messages that have elevated today's top creatives to front men of many brands. The guys from Waft see things differently. They first came to our attention with their book Belgian Car Designers, profiling the surprising number of their countrymen holding top design seats.