Brisk Air Ceiling Unit on 2040-parts.com

Porsche opens new Weissach design studio

Porsche has officially opened its new design center. Located at its Weissach development center, the facility includes interior and exterior design departments, plus a dedicated area for concept car construction. According to Porsche chairman, Matthias Müller, the architecture of the new studio has been designed to allow the firm's "creative developers to work hand-in-hand even more methodically than before." The new design center is one of three new buildings opened at the site, which have been built as part of a $200million investment at Weissach.

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.

Skoda Fabia Estate (2007): first official pictures

By Chris Chilton First Official Pictures 14 August 2007 03:56 Supermini estates are a bit of an oddity - most people looking for a roomy car want extra space in the cabin too. But Skoda clearly reckoned the old Skoda wagon was worth replacing because the new one makes its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Spetember. Based on the new Fabia hatch we drove earlier this year, the new estate is just 7mm longer but 46mm loftier than the old estate.