Carlisle 922mb Crosstrax 13x5 5-4.5 on 2040-parts.com

Amelia Island concours celebrates birthday of fake sports car--46 years early

The fictional Italian grand marque 1958 Pignatelli sports car has joined the lineup for the 2012 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. The 17th-annual event will celebrate the cartoon vehicle's 100th anniversary, 46 years early, in March. "Because all but two people involved with the Amelia Island concours will be dead by 2058, we don't want to wait," concours chairman Bill Warner said.

BMW M135i concept

The BMW M135i concept previews not only the M Performance variant of the 1-Series, but also the three-door bodystyle. The M135i features a subtly different mask to the existing five-door variants, with a different treatment around the lamps and grille. The feature line that runs off the top of the lamps is now a more aggressive, down-turned feature that indexes with the lower central intake.

Tokyo Auto Salon pits performance autos against hybrids

The world's other big January auto show, the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon, opened its doors to tuner enthusiasts in mid-month with a record 402 exhibitors. The Auto Salon fuses numerous styles, but the overriding theme this year was hybrid cars, with customized Toyota Priuses and Honda Insights at every turn. Good old-fashioned engine tuning is alive and well in Japan, where even new sports cars are being heavily modified, with cars such as the KRL Mitsubishi Evolution X and the HKS Nissan GT-R both boasting in excess of 600 hp.