Gabriel 143036 Suspension Strut Mount Chevrolet Luma on 2040-parts.com

Retro style, street-rod flair made PT Cruiser a star

The recipe was simple. Use an existing small-car platform, mix in some nifty retro styling inside and out, build it in a low-cost country, and command a higher price. When it made its debut at the 1999 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Chrysler PT Cruiser with its street-rod flair was an immediate sensation.

Land Rover tease new Range Rover Sport R / RS – debuts at Goodwood (video)

The new 542bhp Range Rover Sport teased The idea of a more powerful Range Rover Sport – complete with the 542bhp version of the supercharged V8 from the Jaguar XJR and F-Type Coupe – has been around for quite some time, but it’s about to become a reality. Land Rover has revealed a teaser video for the new Sport R – which really shows no more than the spy video of the Sport R we had a year ago – but it does herald the imminent arrival of the new Sport R at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this month. With the 542bhp V8 Supercharged under its bonnet, the Sport R is likely to get much closer to the performance of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, with a 0-62 mph likely to be well under 5 seconds.

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.