Ford Flathead Exhaust Manifold on 2040-parts.com

A tribute to Ermanno Cressoni

Last week the car design community suffered a great loss. Ermanno Cressoni or 'Arch' as many of his designers affectionately referred to him, passed away on Thursday 30th June in Milan after battling with cancer for 13 months.'Arch' was a reference in car design and his contribution to our profession was much more important than stated in the press. As Alfa Romeo Centro Stile Director he directed the Alfetta berlina, the famous chrome GTV grille from the early seventies is attributed to him, as is the Giuglietta sedan of the late seventies, the Alfa 33, the 75, and many of the racing Alfas we adore from the late 60s and early 70s.

Lexus LF-NX Concept Compact SUV with 2.0 litre turbo petrol at Tokyo

Lexus LF-NX Concept Compact SUV (pictured) with 2.0 litre turbo petrol at Tokyo The Lexus LF-NX Concept debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and certainly made a statement. Lexus’ efforts to create an SUV/Crossover to sit below the RX and mop up some of the ever-growing demand for more compact SUVs tried hard to do the whole ‘Ugly but appealing’ school of design the Nissan Juke pulled off, but pretty much failed. There were some good ideas running around, but there were just too many jarring angles on the bodywork and not enough cuteness to love and the interior was very ‘concepty’ with a sea of blue and yellow everything and touchscreen surfaces abounding.

The future of in-car telematics – we’re all going online

Mercedes’ R&D boffins lift lid on future in-car gadgets By James Foxall Motor Industry 01 June 2009 09:44 The future of in-car entertainment is on the internet, according to Mercedes-Benz. In an exclusive preview, the firm’s director of infotainment and telematics Ralf Herrtwich explained that in-car CD players and sat-navs are a thing of the past. In the future Mercedes drivers will do everything over the internet.