2005 A4 H&r Coil Springs on 2040-parts.com

Hot seats: from design to delivery [sponsored]

As the user demands on car interiors are increasingly influenced by their growing design consciousness, so suppliers like Lear strive to bring better-engineered seating to satisfy. 2013 was another big year for Lear, as Jeanette Puig-Pey, its global fabric & leather design manager, enthuses: "At our ‘Design2Perform' event we celebrated the unveiling of our brand new collection, with special emphasis on color and texture and our TeXstyle Enhance product, perfect for customization. Laser etching is part of this offering, it is exclusive to Lear Corporation and can be used to add refined design elements to cloth and leather." A mix of fabric and leather in seating is not new but is often seen by the consumer as a cheaper alternative to full leather.

RAC to carry universal spare wheel

The RAC believes call outs to cars with punctures but no spare wheel will reach 250,000 a year by 2015, so has decided to roll out its own universal spare wheel as a hassle-reducing solution. The universal spare wheel, which has already been successfully trialled, should become standard equipment for all RAC breakdown patrols by early February 2014. On Bing: see pictures of universal spare wheels Spare wheel solution from the RAC The RAC has taken this step as increasingly few modern cars are sold with a factory-fitted spare wheel as standard.

Tata appoints former GM Europe head Forster as group CEO

India's Tata Motors named former General Motors Co. executive Carl-Peter Forster as group CEO. Forster, 55, will be responsible for the company's global operations including the Jaguar Land Rover unit.