09-14 Dodge Journey 17x6.5j Rim-1ek85trm 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.

Mercedes S-Class production increased to meet demand

Mercedes S-Class production increased We’ve reported recently on the strong sales Mercedes is enjoying with the new A-Class (and its swoopy-coupe sibling CLA), but it’s not just Mercedes compact cars that are flying out of showrooms. Mercedes has revealed it’s having to increase production at its plant in Sindelfingen by prolonging shifts by 74 minutes (after increasing them by 30 minutes earlier this year) in order to churn out enough S-Class cars to meet strong demand. But it’s not just the S-Class (as well as the A-Class cars) that are selling strongly, Mercedes are also upping production at Bremen to build more GLK and C-Class models.

Datsunland USA: California museum chronicles early history of brand in America

Fred Jordan is a true believer. “It's the greatest automotive story ever told,” he said with the fire of a zealot. “This story is so wonderful, if someone could just get it down!” We were sitting in the Datsun Heritage Museum, under a sign that said, “Datsunland,” and I was trying desperately to get it down.