02 Park Avenue Trunk Latch 109289 on 2040-parts.com

OnStar tests Facebook updates, text-message reading services

General Motors' OnStar service is launching new features with the latest generation of its technology and is testing applications such as reading text messages and updating social-networking Web sites via voice command. The ninth generation of OnStar's software will let GM car owners use their smartphone to remotely start the engine and lock or unlock their cars. The service is called OnStar MyLink.

2013 Ford Fiesta ST debuts at Geneva

2013 Ford Fiesta ST The 2013 Ford Fiesta ST arrives at Geneva in production guise – after a Fiesta ST Concept last year – and will go on sale early 2013. It looks like Ford has finally managed to fit the new 1.6 litre Ecoboost under the bonnet of the new Fiesta ST (all the cars running around so far have had the lump out of the Zetec S) and has pitched up at Geneva with the production version of the 2013 ST. That 1.6 litre Ecoboost engine is a four-cylinder petrol with 178bhp and 177lb/ft of torque, which gives a sub-7 second 0-62mph and a top speed of 136mph.

2014 Corvette designer Kirk Bennion on resonance, legacy and the ever-evolving Vette

The way Kirk Bennion tells it, the Corvette is the only car that's steeped in history yet chooses to largely ignore it. Well, "ignore" is a harsh word. Let's say the Corvette "progresses past history" through the liberal use of aerodynamics, which the chief designer can't resist talking about -- first at the Autoweek Design Forum, then in our Feb.