Harley Sportster Fxrs 19'' Front Wheel 9 Spoke on 2040-parts.com

NHTSA unveils new safety ratings; BMW and Hyundai first to get five stars

The 2011 BMW 5-series and the Hyundai Sonata were the first two cars to achieve five-star ratings under NHTSA's revised safety ratings announced on Tuesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will rate a total of 24 cars, 20 SUVs, nine pickups and two vans for the 2011 model year. The federal agency has significantly modified its rating process and will now grade side-pole testing and crash-prevention technologies such as lane-departure warning and electronic stability control.

BMW M135i (2012) first official pictures

This is the new BMW M135i, a 316bhp hot hatch and the fifth model to emerge from BMW's new M Performance Automobiles tuning arm. We've already seen the 5-series (in saloon and Touring guises) and the X5 and X6 with triple-turbo diesel engines from this new sub-division of BMW's infamous M Division, but the M135i the first petrol offering. The M135i was previewed by a concept car at the 2012 Geneva motor show earlier this year, and the production version is little different.

Bertone B99 Jaguar NOT for Jaguar. Perhaps Lamborghini will be interested?

The Bertone B99 Jaguar Concept - not for us, say Jaguar We thought we were in a minority of one when we proclaimed the Bertone B99 – Bertone’s take on a new Small Jaguar – to be the wrong direction for Jaguar. We couldn’t conceive why a struggling Italian design firm like Bertone would take a punt on designing a new Jaguar, so we assumed that Jaguar must have quietly commissioned it. Otherwise Bertone would have to be a bit barking to try and usurp Jaguar’s design team; a design team with as sure a touch as any in the industry.