Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Upgrades create new flagship Kia Carens

THE RANGE-TOPPING Kia Carens has been upgraded with satellite navigation and a better stereo following customer demand. The Carens 3 is the basis for the new technology to create the Carens 3 Sat Nav, which uses a seven-inch touch-screen on the centre console. There will now be seven higher-quality speakers spread throughout the cabin, too.

Thomas Ingenlath: Volvo Concept C to end 'vanilla' design era [w/Video]

Volvo has promised a radical change in its future design language that will be embodied in its Concept C coupé, the first concept to be developed since head of design Thomas Ingenlath's appointment in July 2012. Our first look at the concept, which debuts at this month's Frankfurt motor show, comes from a video starring Ingenlath (see left). At first it seems to just show him sketching while he explains how some people see Volvo design as "vanilla" – nice, but not iconic or cutting-edge – but if we slow it down at around the 11-second mark, we get a preview of what we can expect.

First Sight: Mercedes-AMG GT

“If I was to buy any sports car that wasn't a Mercedes, it'd be a Porsche 911,” says Mercedes' head of design, Gorden Wagener. “But when you see the two cars together, we think ours has the edge.” He's talking about the new Mercedes-AMG GT, a front-mid engined, two-seater sports car that's unashamedly aimed at higher-end 911s, and we've come to see it at Mercedes' Sindelfingen studio.  The GT replaces the larger SLS, and is seen by Wagener as the best example yet of his 'sensual purity' design philosophy: “The SLS is very much [he gestures] line, line with a surface in between. With the GT we started with the surface and worked to refine and reduce the number of lines.” Elements of the SLS's platform have been carried over, so the GT measures the same 1,939mm wide.