2010-2013 Scion Xb Slash Gaurds With Screws on 2040-parts.com

The Future Role of the Vehicle Designer

The vehicle design department at the Royal College of Art hosted the second in a series of five lectures looking at the future of the profession last week. Moving on from the previous week's topic of sustainability, this debate explored the future roles and responsibilities of the vehicle designer. Head of department Dale Harrow began by posing the question "Is it time to rethink – do we still need the car?" Although still relevant, Harrow's ultimate answer to this was that the profession was about to see marked change, with the end to an era where "designers are locked behind closed doors in studios".

First BMW i8 Hybrids delivered to customers – complete with Laser Lights

The first BMW i8s delivered in Germany The new BMW i8 hybrid supercar was finally revealed in production guise at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, and by the time it went in to production the whole of the 2014 run of i8s was sold out. Apart from its innovative plug-in hybrid powertrain, the i8 offers many new technologies, one of which is a set of laser lights which deliver a much brighter main beam than LED and looked set to be the first time such lights have appeared on a production car. But Audi tried to upset BMW’s applecart by revealing the R8 LMX last month, which also came with laser lights, and looked set to arrive with customers before the i8.

E85 makes inroads on cost and availability

Three years ago, we embarked on a Midwest road trip in search of what was then the Holy Grail of fuel: E85. Our findings weren't too positive--there were far more E85-compatible vehicles on the road in 2006 (5 million) than there were E85 pumps to fuel them (about 700 out of some 200,000 fuel stations nationwide). In addition, those burning the mix of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol were paying a pretty penny for their earth-friendly ways, losing about 15 percent in fuel economy while often paying the same price as regular unleaded.