Bosch Brake Pad Sensor 7p0-907-637 Volkswagen Touearg 12 on 2040-parts.com

2012 Nissan NV hauls the goods

On the vehicular-evolutionary chart, full-size cargo vans haven't progressed much beyond the shag-carpeted, porthole-windowed, rolling disco lounges of the 1970s. Not a bad thing for obvious reasons, unless you're a tradesman or anyone else whose business requires a heavy-duty box on wheels to haul tools, equipment or goods. Enter the 2012 Nissan NV (Nissan Van), directed at what Nissan found was the least-satisfied segment of automotive customers.

2012 Mercedes A-Class revealed in patent filings

The slightly drab 2012 Mercedes A-Class Car makers must hate filing for patents on new cars, because it means trusting images of their new and secret car to a third party. Basic images, admittedly, but the real-deal nonetheless. So Mercedes must be spitting feathers today as the images they sent with their patent applications on the 2012 A-Class leak out of every open window, door and PC and straight on to the interweb.

Audi Urban Future: Project New York

Audi will take advantage of New York's 'Festival of Ideas' to display their vision of Manhattan in 2030, an objective that fulfills part of the German automaker's Urban Future Initiative. Now in its second year (the first was held in Venice last year) the initiative was created with the intention of looking at the future of megacities as well as individual transport methods and mobility. For Project New York, Audi will be bringing together architects, designers, artists and researchers to visualize ideas for the city's future, and the carmaker has collaborated with the Architizer architecture community to create a 1:1200 scale model of Manhattan.