Chevy 454 Harmonic Balancer on 2040-parts.com

BMW 750 Hybrid will show at Frankfurt 2009

BMW 750 Hybrid will launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009 [ad#ad-1] Hybrid cars are starting to make their presence felt in the market place, and even at the top end of luxury saloons the market is moving in that direction. Whether you buy in to the planet-saving ethos or not, it’s hard to argue against something that costs less to run and helps you be perceived as a caring, sharing conscientious member of society – even if you drive a huge great Merchant-Banker-mobile! Lexus have made inroads with their LS 600, and recently we reported that Mercedes has not just given the Mercedes S Class a mid-cycle refresh, but has announced the imminent launch of the Mercedes S400 Hybrid.

Brilliance V5 revealed – it’s a Chinese BMW X1

Brilliance V5 - a BMW X1 for the budget conscious Chinese motorist The Chinese motor industry has become well-known for its ‘Homage’ cars; Chinese cars that bear more than a passing resemblance to well-known cars from the West. Step forward the latest of these – the Brilliance V5 - which we originally thought would be the Brilliance A3. Interestingly, Brilliance is actually BMW’s partner in China, and the BMW Brilliance Automotive partnership will shortly be launching the real-deal BMW X1 in China.

Video: Michael Mauer on the 991-series Porsche 911

Porsche has released a video featuring its Design Director, Michael Mauer, explaining how he and his team went about redesigning the 911, an ‘automotive, engineering icon' as he describes it. "What we as designers are striving to above all is to optimize the width to height ratio with the result that although the 911's width has not increased, the front axle area has become wider, and we've managed to make the roof a bit lower," Mauer explains via a rather dramatic-sounding voiceover.