Carr Light Wing - Chrome 167303 on 2040-parts.com

Coventry University design graduates develop iconic youth car

Three graduates from the Coventry University MA Automotive Design course have created an iconic vehicle for the year 2020. Kazunori Inomota, Edward Stubbs and Mujammil Khan-Muztar designed the Rebel concept, a project that began in March this year, to incorporate aspects of Japanese 'Harajuku' gangs - where teenagers create their own fashion to deliberately try to stand out from their peers - and Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand. Drawing styling cues from the Scion xB and the Ford SYNus concept unveiled at the 2005 NAIAS in Detroit, the Rebel concept is about social interaction, functionality, and the relationship buyers have with personalized products.

Lexus LFA (w/ Gallery)

Lexus presented the LFA at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show last week, the culmination of four years and two show cars. The new front-mid engined supercar is skinned in carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), which, aside from being both lightweight and strong, also enabled greater freedom to create shapes, curves and edges. Seen in the flesh, however, the white bodycolor did the LFA few favors, though this choice may have more to do with slighting Acura - the last NSX, the Type-R, was also white with a red and black interior.

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.