Suomy Hodgson Medium M Spec 1r on 2040-parts.com

Carmel Concours stages a strong comeback

The Carmel Concours on the Avenue came back stronger than ever this year, with somewhere around 200 cars crammed into every nook and cranny of downtown Carmel, Calif., and a crowd many were saying was the biggest the event has ever seen. Under unusually blue skies and warm temperatures, the sunscreened faithful ogled a varied and eclectic lineup, from Ferraris and Porsches to the Ford tractor owned by Carroll Shelby's doctor. Beat that, Pebble.

Lexus Hybrid sales top half a million

Lexus has revealed that they’ve sold more than 500,000 hybrid cars, with the Rx 450h the top seller and the CT 200h catching fast. Unsurprisingly, as it was the first Lexus hybrid to be introduced in 2005, the biggest seller - accounting for half of all Lexus hybrid sales to date (259,000) – has been the RX 400h / RX 450h, but the CT 200h, which was only introduced in 2011, is catching up fast with sales to date of 122,000 to date. During the last seven years Lexus hybrid sales have risen from 26,000 to 113,000 a year and 25 per cent of those Lexus hybrid sales now happen in Europe, even though we don’t get cars like the HS 250h (56,000 sales) and the ES 300h (8,000 sales).

Volkswagen Beetle Dune concept for Detroit Motor Show

Volkswagen Volkswagen has announced a Beetle Dune concept will take to its show stand at the 2014 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) next week – promising to bring a bit of beach buggy sunshine to the polar vortex chilled show halls of Detroit. So far VW has only released the pair of design concepts pictured here, but together with a few choice details you can clearly figure out what we’re dealing with here. The Dune is a Beetle that’s been given a rugged off-road makeover.