Swivel Bucket Seats, 1975 Monte Carlo on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes-Benz scores double wins at German Design Council awards

Mercedes-Benz took home two design trophies from the 2014 German Design Council awards, winning Special Mentions for the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-class and the Ener-G-Force concept vehicle. The German Design Council traces its history back decades, and every year dozens of experts evaluate more than a thousand entries, with just a fraction of them being automotive designs. This year 30 well-known design experts judged approximately 1900 submissions, assessing a variety of design elements in picking their top choices, and this year a duo of Mercedes-Benz vehicles won the praise of design gurus.

Fisker gets funding for Karma & NINA

The Fisker Karma - should move to market quickly with new funding But late yesterday the DOE in the US approved loans to Fisker of $528 million (around £323 million). That should help. The loan is aiming to secure production of a plug-in hybrid in the US, which probably means the lower cost car Fisker has been talking about for some time.

Hertz announces Ford Mustang-based Hertz Penske GT rental car

There's nothing wrong with your basic cloth-interior rental cars, but there are times when you want to stumble off the plane and into something a bit more stimulating than a CVT-equipped Versa. Fortunately, rental car companies seem to be willing to answer the enthusiast call. Last week we told you about the Hertz Dream Car lineup and its $1,500-per-day Ferraris, but the company has also developed the muscle-car oriented Adrenaline Collection.