Blog on 2040Parts

College Exhibition: Creapole 2013

Creapole's class of 2013 used its end-of-year degree show to research many emerging areas for improved mobility as well as alternative research into emerging cultural trends towards certain OEMs. From healthcare infrastructure in Polynesia and raising road safety awareness in Italy, to car-sharing with a twist from Renault, each project delves into the socio-economic needs of various markets. Once again, Creapole delves into the human psyche and its prerequisite values that constantly shift and change.

2014 Acura MDX gets new platform, FWD option

Acura gave us the full rundown of the 2014 MDX SUV on Wednesday. The seven-passenger people-mover goes on sale tomorrow, and for the first time includes a base front-wheel-drive version which stickers at $43,185. The Acura MDX has a new platform for 2014 that's lower and narrower, but with a 2.8-inch longer wheelbase.

One Lap of the Web: Jaguar C-X75, 'Top Gear's' 20th season and Bugatti vs. Pagani

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Remember the Jaguar C-X75 concept a couple of years back?

Spied: Mercedes-Benz SLC AMG? UPDATED

LATEST UPDATE Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car off-shoot has kicked off public road tests of its eagerly awaited new sportscar, which is planned to go on sale in North America in early 2015. Smaller and more affordable than the existing SLS AMG, which the new two door liftback will indirectly replace in the German car maker’s line-up, the new car is planned to compete directly with the Porsche 911, both on price and performance. The coupe model, caught here exiting AMG’s engineering headquarters on the outskirts of Stuttgart in Germany yesterday in the first round of durability testing, will proceed a convertible version of the front-engined, rear-wheel drive sportscar due out in 2016, with an expected price tag of around $100,000 in the US.

Jaguar F-Type V8 S vs Aston Martin V8 Vantage vs Porsche 911 Carrera S (video)

Chris Harris test the F-Type, V8 Vantage & 911 Carrera S. Which is best? If any car has grabbed the headlines in 2013, it’s the new Jaguar F-Type.

McLaren F1 LM & F1 GTR to join P1 at 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

The McLaren F1 LM Prototype (pictured) will be at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed is turning in to a proper treat for McLaren fans. As well as the McLaren P1 making its driving debut at Goodwood this year – and taking on the hillclimb, McLaren is taking a trio of legendary F1 cars to the festival too. On show will be the 1995 Le Mans winning F1 GTR, a car which allowed McLaren to become the first racing team ever to win the Formula 1, Indy 500, Can Am and Le Mans Championships.

2013 Pilkington Design Awards winners announced

Royal College of Art Vehicle Design graduates Nir Siegel and Ian Slattery have taken top honors at the 26th annual Pilkington Vehicle Design Awards, held at the RCA in London. Jaguar designer Earl Beckles presented the award for Best Design Interpretation to Siegel for his Audi Genesis project, a vehicle that builds itself using 3D printing technology to the user's specifications, providing a new kind of owner experience. Beckles said that Siegel's idea was fresh and innovative, while also carrying an interesting story and development process.

Top Gear Series 20 starts on Sunday

Top Gear’s back on Sunday Top Gear is back with Series 20, starting this coming Sunday (30th June). On offer for the first episode (more details on Sunday morning) will be the arrival of the new ‘Reasonably Priced Car’ with help from the likes of Warwick Davis, Charles Dance and Joss Stone, a trip to New Zealand to race an America’s Cup Yacht and a hot hatch fight-off between the Renaultsport Clio 200, Peugeot 208 GTI and Ford Fiesta ST. Running over the next few weeks we’ll have a trio of supercars taking to the road in Spain, Taxis taking on Motorsport, Clarkson in the BAC Mono, the SLS AMG Black and AMG ED, Crossovers towing Caravans, a Hovercraft car for negotiating floods, the new Jaguar F-Type, the new Range Rover Sport, Ferrari F12 and much, much more.

Volvo’s self-parking car will park your Volvo for you

Volvo’s self-parking car will do parking for you It’s rapidly getting to the point where drivers will need to do little more than be in the car to ‘drive’ it, with technology taking away control of tasks like parking. But a new technology from Volvo means you don’t even need to be in the car to park it. Volvo has been working on an autonomous parking that uses Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology – which is basically sensors built in to the road – where the sensors guide the car to a vacant space.

One Lap of the Web: Fake movie cars, Russian dash cams and 'Forza'

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- We all know most movie cars can be fake, but some are a step above the rest.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante revealed

Aston Martin has unveiled the Vanquish Volante -- a new luxury sports car bringing open-top motoring to the super GT class. Alongside the Vanquish coupe the new convertible tops the British sports car maker's lineup and has all the coupe's features. There's the coupe's 6.0-liter V12 engine and thus the same performance figures, including a top speed of 183 mph.

New Aston Martin Vanquish Volante arrives – costs £200k

The New Aston Martin Vanquish Volante (pictured) costs £200k It’s almost exactly a year since the Aston Martin Vanquish arrived as a replacement for the DBS, and now we get it’s convertible sibling – the new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. Aston are claiming the new Vanquish Volante is the stiffest Aston convertible ever and have also managed to keep the usual weight increase for a soft top down to just 9kg by giving the Volante a full carbon fibre body. The result of that is the Volante manages to produce exactly the same performance figures as the Vanquish Coupe – 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds and 183mph – from its 565php, 6.0 litre V12 and shouldn’t, we hope, shake and shimmy in the way many Aston convertibles do in the process.

2014 Mitsubishi Outlander official safety car for Pikes Peak

Mitsubishi hit our radar on Tuesday for the first time in a long time. The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander crossover will be the official safety vehicle for the 91st running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 30. The Outlander will join two Mitsubishi race cars as they attack the 12.4-mile course.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

New models are coming thick and fast in Aston Martin's centenary year: here’s the drop-top Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. The soft-top flagship is the first convertible Aston with a carbon body, making the stiffest and most powerful drop-top it has ever built. Its 565bhp drivetrain has been taken straight from the Aston Martin Vanquish coupe – the most powerful Aston to date – but the Volante adds 105kg and an extra £6000 for a starting price of £199,995.

Spyker at Salon Prive 2013 with B6 Venator & C8 Aileron – and maybe the Venator Spyder

The Spyker B6 Venator (pictured) will be at Salon Prive this year Victor Muller rolled out his new plans for Spyker ahead of the Geneva Motor Show this year with the arrival of the very convincing Spyker B6 Venator and typically grandiose plans to build and sell so many Spyker would be back on top. But Victor’s plans didn’t stop there, and by April it was clear that Spyker were also planning on building a Venator Spyder too as Victor’s plans to take on the £100k plus sports car market grew. So with plans to make Spyker a force to be reckoned with, Spyker are off to this year’s garden party with cars – Salon Prive – in September with not just the B6 Venator but also the C8 Aileron.

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray costs £61,495

The new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray will cost £61.5k in the UK The 2014 MY Corvette Stingray arrived at the Detroit Motor Show in January, and now it’s arriving in the UK. The new Stingray comes with a 6.2 litre LT1 V8 offering a modest (for its size) 455bhp and 460ln/ft of torque, enough to get the Stingray to 60mph in under 4 seconds and, say Chevy, still offer ‘improved’ economy over the old model. In the real world, though, that probably means under 20mpg.

Fiat 500L MPW (Living) is a stretched, seven-seat Fiat 500

The Fiat 500L MPW (Living outside UK) is a seven-seat 500 You may think MINI has stretched the ‘brand’ way beyond common sense, but Fiat are running a close second with endless variations on the 500 theme. This is the latest – the Fiat 500L MPW. The 500L MPW (it stands for ‘Multi Purpose Wagon but will be called the 500L Living outside the UK) is the already odd Fiat 500L stretched by 201mm to add in a couple of extra kiddie seats in the back.

Chrysler recalls Jeeps for fire risk

Chrysler has decided to recall 2.7 million 1993 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002 to 2007 Liberty models for a potential risk relating to the fuel tank placement between the rear bumper and rear axle. The recall is initiated 15 days after the automaker originally denied a request following a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation. On June 4, one day after NHTSA's finding, Chrysler rejected the request in a media statement, stating the NHTSA's initial conclusions are based on “incomplete analysis of the underlying data.” Chrysler said the impacted models met or exceeded all applicable requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, including the ones pertaining to fuel system integrity.

McLaren to bring F1 GTR, LM and Longtail to Goodwood

McLaren is taking the 24 Hours of Le Mans off this year -- actually, it has taken the last 14 years off -- and is instead concentrating on a British tradition: the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The company confirmed it would bring the 1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR to take on the hill this year. It will be joined by the one-off prototype McLaren F1 LM, as well as the Gulf-liveried McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, which claimed second place in 1997.

MyFord Touch getting knobs and buttons?

Ford Motor Co. plans to revert to more traditional knobs and buttons in its MyFord Touch infotainment and control system. The system has hurt Ford's ratings in several quality surveys.

Mercedes CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake gets a Spencer Hart suit

Nick Hart and his Mercedes CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake Getting a menswear specialist to makeover a high end car isn’t the most obvious route to go, but Mercedes say Savile Row’s Spencer Hart shares a creative ethos with the three pointed star, so it’s a natural fit. And actually, Spencer Hart’s creative Director, Nick Hart, has done his brand – and Mercedes’ – absolutely no harm with an appealing makeover of the Mercedes shed on steroids that is the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake. The Spencer Hart CLS gets a specially created colour - Nick Hart Midnight Blue – and instead of chrome highlights on the exterior Nick has subtle, dark shades instead.

Studio Focus: SAIC European Design Centre

SAIC European Design Centre Brands MG and Roewe Established 2010 (in current guise) Location Longbridge, UK Staff 35 Studio leader Martin Uhlarik SAIC's presence in Europe is limited at best through its MG brand, but if its sales are almost exclusively concentrated in its home Chinese market currently, MG's design roots are firmly planted in its spiritual British soil. All current Morris Garages cars – the MG6, 3 and 5 (in chronological order) as well as the CS concept shown at the Shanghai motor show in April – are products of SAIC's European Design Centre in Longbridge, near Birmingham in the English midlands, albeit finalized in Shanghai. The studio was opened in 2010 after a £5million investment in SAIC's UK Technical Centre but such are the ambitions of the company that it has already received a further £1.5million investment to almost double its size.

Automotive Press Association Design Panel says autonomous cars will tear up design rulebook [w/Video]

Fully autonomous cars will challenge everything we know about car design to date, according to industry experts at the Michelin Challenge Design-hosted Automotive Press Association (APA) Design Panel. The APA members-only event, held at the Detroit Athletic Club, carried the theme of 'Driven/Undriven: The Duality of Tomorrow's Automobile' – the subject of this year's Michelin Challenge Design – and explored the design challenges and opportunities that will arise with the advent of autonomous vehicles. The APA Design Panel consisted of Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics, Chris Borroni-Bird, vice president of Strategic Development at Qualcomm and author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility of the 21st Century as well as Stewart Reed, chair of the Transportation Design course at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

One Lap of the Web: Lamborghini Gallardo replacement, Audi scrutineering and a morning dose of classic sheetmetal

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. Details regarding the Korres Project 4 have surfaced today.

Audi A3 Saloon arrives in the UK from £24,275

The Audi A3 Saloon (pictured) arrives in the UK Audi isn’t afraid of covering every possible niche in its ambition to be the world’s top ‘Premier’ marque, so we now get a third body shape for the new A3 – the Audi A3 saloon. Designed to sell in markets that prefer a traditional 3-box car to a hatch – like the US and China – Audi still believes there’s a market for an A3 with a boot in the UK, so the new A3 Saloon arrives on sale with a choice, at least initially, of three engines – two petrols and a diesel. Cosmetically, apart from the addition of a boot, the A3 Saloon gets more pronounced curves, bigger wheel arches, new shapes on the bonnet, new bumper, new lights and a boot spoiler.

SEAT Leon FR 2.0 TDI 184 PS costs from £22,075

The SEAT Leon FR 2.0 TDI 184 PS (pictured) arrives in the UK from £22,075 The 2013 SEAT Leon arrived at the Paris Motor Show last year as the Spanish take in the VW Golf. And now the SEAT take on the Golf GTD is in the UK – the SEAT Leon FR 2.0 TDI 184 PS. With a dose of Spanish flair making the SEAT a more flamboyant, and appealing, car than the Golf, it comes with the same 181bhp 2.0 litre diesel as the GTD, offering 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds and 67.3mpg.

BMW 4 Series Coupe: Video

The new 2014 BMW 4 Series (pictured) on video It seems to have taken a while for the BMW 4 Series – the replacement for the old 3 Series Coupe – to arrive – but now it’s here. Revealed last week, the 5 Series is a convincing take on a coupe version of the 3 Series, so convincing – and with more room in the back than before – that its seems likely it will take a bigger share of ’3 Series’ sales than the previous generation coupe. Not only is the overall package of the new 4 Series more convincing, so is the spec level.

Volvo poised for V8 Supercars entry Down Under in 2014

Volvo has confirmed that it has entered a factory team into the V8 Supercars for 2014. Volvo Polestar Racing will enter one of the world’s biggest touring car categories with a pair of V8-powered S60s, joining Nissan, Mercedes, Holden and Ford (which is rumoured as potentially departing the series). Where will the S60 get its V8?

Volvo V40 vs Mercedes A Class – Take the Challenge

Volvo are challenging buyers to compare the new V40 Pictured) against the Mercedes A Class Car makers often run a little scared of overt comparisons between their cars and those of rival car makers. But not Volvo. Volvo are throwing down the gauntlet to the new Mercedes A Class by offering buyers considering the new A Class their first month’s payment on the baby Merc if, after test driving a new V40, they still opt for the German.

BYD E6 Electric Cars arrive in the UK for fleet trials

More than 50 BYD E6 EVs arrive in Southampton, ready for UK trials It’s three years since the BYD E6 was revealed at the Detroit Auto Show, with big claims for the future of BYD and the E6. And now the E6 has arrived in the UK. More than 50 BYD E6s have arrived in Southampton docks and are heading out for trials with UK fleet operators, principally the Taxi market.