Autometer Z Electrical Voltmeter Gauge 2 1/16" Dia Black Face 2645 on 2040-parts.com

Kia preparing a range of sporting models

Kia is quietly readying a string of sportier models to pep up its humdrum image, CAR has learned. The burgeoning sports car plan is likely to sire everything from hot hatches to standalone sports cars. On our trip to Korea this week, sources at Kia HQ confirmed a range of performance models, designed to mix some excitement into a brand that now commands respect from mainstream buyers after its crawl upmarket to the volume market alongside Europe's mass-market brands.

Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate Edition (2011)

Land Rover will showcase its luxury skills when it unveils this maxed-up Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate Edition at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Gaydon calls it the 'most luxurious Range Rover' and it has a pair of Apple iPads installed in to the rear entertainment system as standard so businessmen and kids can smear grubby fingers aplenty as they work and play. A pair of individual back seats is fitted in place of a rear bench, and there's an aluminium laptop table too.

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.