2008 Dodge Aspen Radio Trim Dash Bezel 2616431 on 2040-parts.com

Show Review: La Festa Mille Miglia 2007

Those who arrived early for the Tokyo Motor Show may have had the chance to see Japan's take on the Mille Miglia, the 1000 mile race held between 1927 and 1957 in Italy. Never a nation to take their hobbies anything less than seriously, La Festa Mille Miglia is a popular recreation by Japanese enthusiasts of the historic race, which replaces the Tuscan countryside with ten of Japan's states. Now in its eighth year, this time the race also commemorated the 80th anniversary of the first of the original series.

Birth of an Icon

The first thing you notice when you step into Icon's sprawling, 120,000-square-foot shop in Chatsworth, Calif. -- past the fenced-in yard of Broncos of every size and Land Cruisers of every generation, past the 1952 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon with the DeSoto front end and a massaged patina of greens, browns, and ochres resembling a Cezanne painting -- is the smell. It smells old in here.

VW Taigun Compact SUV heading for production

It was a good-looking and appealing effort from VW to tap in to the very compact SUV market, with a real family look (a Tiguan on a boil wash), peppy little 3-cylinder 1.0 litre engine delivering 108bhp and a 0-62mph of 9.2 seconds (with 60mpg economy) and enough room to carry stuff and people thanks to an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up! Now it looks like the Taigun is heading for production after VW’s Chief designer, Klaus Bishoff, told Autoexpress that he deeply believed the Taigun would be heading for VW showrooms very soon, and could be sold in the UK and Europe as well as in emerging markets. So you can add the Taigun to the list of VW’s SUV offerings, and with new versions of the Tiguan and Touareg (perhaps based on the CrossBlue Concept) and a Polo based SUV on the way too, it looks like VW are covering all the bases.