67 Chevelle Tail Lights on 2040-parts.com

Bentley Mulsanne Turbo: 30 years ago this week, Bentley was re-born

1982 Bentley Mulsanne Turbo (photo courtesy WO Bentley Memorial Foundation) The Bentley Mulsanne Turbo was launched thirty years ago this week at the 1982 Geneva Motor Show, and Bentley was re-born. It’s hard to believe now, but until Rolls Royce launched the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo in 1982 Bentleys were nothing more than re-badged Rolls Royces and accounted for an insignificant 5 per cent of Rolls Royce sales. But the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo changed all that and put Bentley on the road to success with the first ’Blower’ Bentley in half a century.

Coming soon: A bigger, better autoweek.com

First, we want to thank all the readers who have helped make autoweek.com what it is today -- we've worked hard to ensure no nugget of cool car news falls through the cracks, and we've been rewarded by a 100 percent increase in visitors over the past two years. That said, we also know there's a lot about our site design that can be improved. Articles don't "pop" the way they should, the home page is far too busy, and our commenting system is…well, let's just say that anything relying on Facebook deserves a healthy dose of skepticism.

Art Center BMW/Exa project

There's a new sponsored project that is just getting under way at Art Center College of Design, the likes of which hasn't been seen in a very long time - if at all. The school's Transportation Design department has helped bring together BMW with Exa Corporation, a Boston-based virtual aerodynamic simulation company, and has tasked the students to re-design the current BMW X5 Sports Activity Vehicle with the hope of dramatically increasing its aerodynamic efficiency while still retaining the BMW flagship SAV design language. This brief is quite timely in the context of the industry's ongoing focus with sustainability and strikes at the core of the BMW Group's long term energy strategy known as the concept of Efficient Dynamics.