90 Yamaha Exciter Ex 570 Brake Caliper W / Cable Aj on 2040-parts.com

The UK’s best-selling car is… a toy car

Forget the Ford Fiesta. With 2012 sales of a ‘mere’ 109,625, it has to relinquish its best-selling status to this young gun – the Cozy Coupe. The ever-popular children's toy, littering many a hallway across the land, sold around 143,000 in 2012.

Brazilian students develop soapbox racers for Volkswagen

Brazilian design students have competed for year-long internships at Volkswagen's Brazilian design studio by designing – and racing – soapbox cars. Established 15 years ago by Volkswagen South America design director Luiz Veiga, the Volkswagen Design Talent Contest refreshed its format for 2013 by challenging students to develop a prototype for a gravity-powered soapbox racer instead of asking for sketch and render-based proposals. According to Veiga, Volkswagen was looking for someone "capable of working away from the desk and able to create design solutions, assess and build them".

From 'Made in China' to 'Designed in China'

Visitors to the recent Auto China in Beijing may have noticed an impressive new Chinese sports car – called Aculeus – on one of the smaller exhibitor stands. The concept car is the latest project undertaken by CH-Auto Technology Corporation – one of a growing number of automotive R&D service companies based in China that provides support to the OEMs. The company was established in August 2003 by Lu Qun, an engineer who originally trained at Tsinghua University and later specialized in engine development testing.