Sparcraft Tylaska J Lock Shackles (2) on 2040-parts.com

Volvo to skip Tokyo Motor Show

Volvo, the Swedish unit of Ford Motor Co., will not participate in the Tokyo Motor Show this fall. "We have evaluated our participation at motor shows for 2009 to see how we can make the most out of our resources, and this year we decided not to participate at Tokyo," Volvo spokeswoman Maria Bohlin said today in an e-mail. Ford Motor Co.

Skoda MissionL Concept revealed – the Skoda Lauretta, perhaps?

Skoda MissionL Concept - destined to be the Skoda Lauretta Skoda is on a mission to push its sales through the roof in the next year or seven – aiming for 1.5 million sales, no less, by 2018 –  and part of that strategy is to fill the gap in its range between the Fabia and Octavia. So it’s a good thing the Skoda MissionL Concept fits the bill. Not that we have a great deal to go on with the MissionL Concept, as all Skoda have done so far is send us a short press release and the teaser photo above (which was a lot darker until we sent it through Photoshop).

Bentley SUV will create a new niche

The Bentley SUV (EXP 9 F pictured) will create a new market sector. We all saw the Bentley SUV when it arrive two years ago at the Geneva Motor show, and the general consensus was along the lines of ‘What a truck’. But Bentley have taken that reaction on board and are busy redesigning the looks of their SUV (well, the exterior anyway – the interior was lovely) to give it a more appealing look, one probably more biased towards an SUV version of the Continental Series rather than the Mulsanne.