2005 - 2014 Toyota Tacoma Leveling Lift Kit on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: Satoshi Wada to open independent design studio

Satoshi Wada, former Senior Designer at Audi AG and Nissan Design Japan, is set to open his own design studio. Called SWdesign TOKYO, his ambitious plan follows on from a growing line of design managers who have left successful OEMs to establish their own design practices. Wada, who resigned from Audi AG in Ingolstadt earlier this month, told CDN he is aiming "to create a new vision with my own independent design studio in Tokyo".

Travis Pastrana canes the Global RallyCross Dodge Dart: Video

While Erik Carlsson showed the world that lunacy had an appropriate place in rallying—they didn't call him "Carlsson on the Roof" for nothing—it took Ken Block's marketing savvy and the paste-it-anywhere-and-watch ubiquity of YouTube to get a broad swath of American kids amped on the antic fun that can be had with an all-terrain compact car. In a bid to get that same group excited about the new Dodge Dart, Chrysler enlisted Travis Pastrana to pilot its Global RallyCross entry. And in a sort of low-budget, less-elaborate version of Block's wacky-upon-zany Gymkhana videos, Pastrana puts the Dart through its paces, losing the passenger-side rear corner of the bodywork in the process.

Volvo You concept is the shape of things to come

The sleek Volvo concept unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show is headed to production, said Volvo Chairman Li Shufu. "The board has approved production of the concept, known as You, but the timetable has to be finalized,'' Li said during an interview at the Frankfurt auto show. He said it will be "somewhere around 2015." It's part of the plan by Chinese owner Zhejiang Geely to move the Volvo brand upscale.