Lisle 33500 Ring Expander on 2040-parts.com

Lorenzo Ramaciotti to head Chrysler and Lancia design

Lorenzo Ramaciotti, current head of design at Fiat Group, has been tasked with leading the design of future Chrysler and Lancia products in a bid to more than double the sales figures of the newly collaborated brands. The 63-year-old former Pininfarina designer – credited to some of the most beautiful Italian machinery of the modern era – has been asked by Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler Group LLC, to create a common styling language for the two brands that wouldn't look out of place in Detroit or Milan. Ramaciotti has made it clear that badge-engineering isn't going to be the future for the two brands and is hoping to inject a unique, but global flavor, into the two brands.

2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe, the AutoWeek Drivers Log

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JONATHAN WONG: There are some cars that look good, and then there are a few cars that look downright gorgeous. Astons fall into the latter category (except for the DB9 Volante). This Vantage coupe with its DBR9 racing green paint job is hard to miss--not for being an over-the-top, outlandish-styled car like a Lambo, but because it's just so beautiful.

Ford supercars

By 29 July 2008 09:00 The Blue Oval might be more at home building Escorts and Mondeos, but it too has dabbled in the superecar arena in the past four decades. And considering the company's main engineering focus, the two supercars it has built both qualify for CAR's landmark supercar status. The original GT40 was a rude shock to Maranello and took a string of racing victories home as proof; the newer GT was equally adept and more than one magazine placed it ahead of its Italianate contemporaries.