Daihatsu Mira 2000 F Exhaust Muffler [1922200] on 2040-parts.com

2012 Fiat 500c cabriolet arrives with spring

The Fiat 500 two-door has been slowly filtering into dealerships for just a few weeks. Nonetheless, Chrysler is ready to serve up the convertible variant just in time for the warm weather. The 500c cabriolet makes its debut at the New York auto show.

Chevrolet Orlando MPV price & models

The Chevrolet Orlando starts at £16,395 Chevrolet introduced their compact MPV – the Chevrolet Orlando – at this year’s Paris Motor Show as a tame version of the original Orlando Concept we saw back in 2008. It’s sort of what you expect from a Concept – the drama goes when production dawns – but the production Orlando is a bit visually underwhelming. But despite the less than eye-catching exterior the Orlando has done well to pack seven seats in to the underpinnings of the Cruze/Volt, with the rear rows of seats able to move and fold to give decent flexibility.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.