05 Yamaha Yzf R1 Cylinders Jugs 374 on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: Steve Mattin appointed Design Director at Avtovaz Lada

Steve Mattin will soon be relocating to his new home – Russia. The former Vice President and Design Director of Volvo Cars has been tapped by Avtovaz Lada to lead its design operations into the future, designing a new era of passenger vehicles for the 40-year-old brand. He will start his new role October 1 this year.

2012 Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance – courtesy of Bentley

Bentley was an integral part of the 2012 Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle and have chronicled the event in pictures. Last weekend saw the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance event in the Queen’s weekend back garden with cars from every year of Her Majesty’s reign gathered to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. Not surprisingly, a historic brand like Bentley was well represented, and Bentley made the effort to chronicle the event in pictures and have been kind enough to share them.

Porsche reports big drop in sales

Well, it’s not exactly a surprise, given the doom and gloom in the industry at the moment, but Porsche has just reported a 27% drop in sales, down to 34,000 units, over the last six months. As you would expect, some models fared worse than others. The recently updated Porsche 911, which has had mid-cycle tweaks including the new PDK ‘box, held up pretty well.