Hose, Gm 12472200 on 2040-parts.com

Bentley plans to add four-seat sports car, crossover to lineup

Bentley Motors is looking to add a four-seat sports car and a crossover vehicle to its lineup, using borrowed platforms from Volkswagen Group siblings Porsche and Audi, its top executive said. In an interview during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer said the crossover would borrow from the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne platforms. While the crossover may carry a V12 engine like the rest of the Bentley lineup, Duerheimer said, "not everyone needs to have a V12." Duerheimer, who oversaw Porsche's push into SUVs as the company's development chief, said he "knows what is possible" in bringing a luxury brand into new segments.

2008 Fiat’s best year EVER!

Didn’t they do well!? Fiat has just announced that, despite the doom and gloom in the car world in 2008, particularly in the last quarter, they have had their best year ever, with their trading profit up by 4% and turnover by 1.5% to €60 billion. Well done them.

Autodesk Automotive Days - Munich 2009

Autodesk's Automotive Days design conferences, launched in Munich in 2008, have highlighted the key growth area of digital prototyping. And at last month's conference the focus was once again broadened to include coverage of conceptual design and creative visualization (at the very beginning of the design process) and design for manufacture - at the culmination of the process. Speakers from Autodesk outlined the innovative features of their latest product suites, while keynote presentations from leading automotive designers such as Frank Stephenson of McLaren and Volvo's Rickard Franklin showed in fascinating detail how the benefits of these software systems were being maximized in busy corporate design studios.