Hobie 14 Turbo Trampoline on 2040-parts.com

GM's Tom Peters on breaking Corvette design tradition [w/Video]

GM design director of performance vehicles and full-size trucks Tom Peters has defended his decision to break from Corvette tradition by abandoning round rear lamps for the 2014 Stingray in an Autoweek video. The rear lamp design of the new model has been criticized as being "too Camaro" by some, to which Peters challenges them to park one alongside the other before he highlights just how different they are. Functionality also played a key role in the rear lamps' redesign, he explains, such as rear aerodynamic considerations, new LED technology previously unused in Corvette design, and depth of sculpture opportunities.

Bentley SUV (Falcon) to be built in Slovakia?

Bentley says it has 2000 pre-orders for the Bentley Falcon SUV and that it is possible the Bentley won’t be built in Crewe but in Bratislava. January’s news was that the Bentley SUV was close to being signed-off for production (we’ve heard that once or twice) and in February we learnt that Bentley have gone back to the drawing board to produce a new design under the watchful eye of Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley’s Chief Designer, which we expect to be a more dynamic one with cues from the Continental, rather than a square truck with Mulsanne headlights. So now it’s time for the March instalment of ‘Bentley SUV News‘, and we have Bentley boss Wolfgang Schreiber telling us that Bentley already has 2,000 pre-orders for their SUV (we’re guessing ‘expressions of interest’ may be closer to the truth) before the new design is shown, and before Bentley has decided whether they want to pitch their SUV just above the new Range Rover at around £150k, or do what Bentley dealers want which is a Bentley SUV costing north of £200k.

Jaguar XJR returns – 542bhp XJ to debut at New York Auto Show

A new generation Jaguar XJR is being launched at the New York Auto Show later this month, signalling the return of the range-topping XJ with 542bhp. We’ve been heralding the arrival of an all new Jaguar XJR for four years and now, finally  Jaguar is about to deliver with a new XJR sporting Jaguar’s 542bhp version of the supercharged V8 under the bonnet. Jaguar are being a bit precious with the full details of the new XJR, but they’re calling the new XJR the ‘Dynamic Flagship‘ of the Jaguar range – which is promising when you consider how fluid and able the XJ already is.