00-02 Mercedes W220 S500 Front Left Driver Upper Top Seat Cushion Black #2 on 2040-parts.com

A tribute to Jim Das

On May 15 GM Europe designer Jim Das passed away in a Wiesbaden hospital after a year-long battle with leukemia. Jim joined the Opel Design team in 1997 following the completion of his Masters degree at the Royal College of Art. In 1998-99 Jim had a stint in Italy at the Opel Advanced Studio and worked on a roadster study (currently on display at Opel Live in Ruesselsheim).

Hyundai i45 / Hyundai i40 / Hyundai Sonata confirmed for Oz

Hyundai has reveled its Sonata replacement in Australia - the Hyundai i45 Last year – in September to be accurate – Hyundai launched the replacement for the Hyundai Sonata in its home market of Korea. We knew then that the Sonata name would stay for some markets, but in keeping with Hyundai’s latest nomenclature we were going to get the i-something, to go along with i10, i20, i30, ix35…. We reckoned Europe would get the Hyundai i40, not the Hyundai Sonata.

Subaru SHARC wins LA Design Challenge [w/video]

Subaru's SHARC (Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept) has been named the winner of the 2012 LA Design Challenge. The judges chose the futuristic drone as the best embodiment of the 'Highway Patrol Vehicle 2025' with the judges declaring that the studio captured "the vision of Design Challenge theme by combining functionality and problem-solving technology around a dynamic and plausible story" from a choice of designs from six other automotive design studios. Studios from BMW DesignWorksUSA, General Motors, Honda North America, Honda Japan, Mercedes-Benz submitted concepts that would create a highway patrol vehicle for 2025 that tackled the ‘protect and serve' aspect while considering emissions, population growth and transportation infrastructure.