Mopar 383 Four Barrel Air Cleaner Decal on 2040-parts.com

Peter Schreyer introduces Kia's new Sportage

It's a sign of just how significant the new Sportage is for Kia that rather than flying UK journalists to an international launch location the company instead rented a boutique hotel in London's Notting Hill, created a sketch gallery in the basement and flew in key members of the car's development team to meet the press — who were then lent some the first new Sportage's in the UK to test for a month. One executive present at the event was Kia's Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer. Car Design News was invited to meet with Peter to talk about his role at Kia and for him to talk us through a vehicle Kia is billing as the first to be designed entirely under his tenure.

Where is Nissan and Infiniti design headed? Just look at the lamps

For a glimpse at future styling trends from Nissan Motor Co., look to the headlamps on the Nissan Leaf electric car and the sculpted rear of the Infiniti M. Front and rear lamps raised from the body surface and pronounced spoilers are two tricks Nissan will use more often to improve the aerodynamics and handling of vehicles--in addition to giving them a futuristic flair, global design chief Shiro Nakamura says. The goal: Win young drivers and bring sales of models such as the Nissan Altima in line with Japanese rivals "The important thing is the front end and the rear end," Nakamura said during an April 12 interview at the company's main design studio south of Tokyo.

BMW i: the new electric car sub-brand launched

I spy something... beginning with i. That'll be the name for BMW's new sub-brand for its forthcoming electric vehicles (both pure EV and hybrid), announced today. Think of i as BMW M - a sub brand for the internet-savvy, eco-conscious, city-dwelling new premium car buyer. BMW's new sub-brand was launched with a live-streaming web conference from the BMW Welt complex in Munich on 21 February 2011.