05 06 07 08 0mercedes Clk 350 550 63 Brackets A2097500490 A2097500390 Lh Rh on 2040-parts.com

CAR interviews Porsche design chief Michael Mauer

By Ben Barry Motor Industry 11 June 2014 09:09 CAR magazine caught up with Porsche’s head of design Michael Mauer to talk about Porsche styling. Read on for our full interview – where we discuss keeping the 911 fresh, assimilating SUVs into a sport car line-up and design inspiration in general. ‘I studied transport design in Pforzheim, Germany, and joined Mercedes in 1986.

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.

BMW offers M Performance Parts for 3- and 5-series

BMW opened up its M Performance Parts catalog to the new 3- and 5-series, the company said on Friday. The German automaker will offer chassis, brakes, aero upgrades and exhaust improvements for the 2012 3-series and the 2011-12 5-series. BMW revealed the line for its diesel cars in Europe in January, but those cars won't be coming here.