1949 Plymouth Front Floor Vent, Original Part., on 2040-parts.com

Tesla gives away its electric car secrets for free

Tesla Elon Musk, the CEO of the pioneering electric carmaker Tesla, has announced that the company is to "open source" all its technology patents in order to speed up the progress of electric car development. In an extraordinary press statement entitled 'All our patents are belong to you' – a reference to online memes and gaming culture, in case you were wondering – Musk has categorically stated that Tesla will not challenge any company that takes advantage of its technology when building rival electric cars.   Tesla gives away electric car technology: will not sue Having recently reviewed the Tesla Model S, this sounds great news for the future of the electric car, but commercial suicide for Tesla as a business.

Design Contest: Local Motors and Shell announce 'DRIVEN' [w/video]

Local Motors, the open-source car design community, has announced its latest competition. Working in collaboration with Shell Oils, the DRIVEN contest is an acronym for Design of Relevant and Innovative Vehicles for Energy Needs. Entrants are asked to create a car for one of five cities: Amsterdam, Bangalore, Basra, Houston or Sao Paulo.

UK car production down 20%

CAR PRODUCTION slowed a little last month, according to official figures. A total of 133,730 cars were made in the UK in February - 2.7% fewer than in February 2013, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. Cars made for the export market rose 3.5% last month, but manufacturing for the home market was down 20.8%.