Hurst Shifter Lever on 2040-parts.com

Kia's chief designer seeks a sporty car to blow the doors off its image

Kia's design boss wants to add a sports car or convertible to lend more appeal to the brand. No such car is officially in the pipeline, said Peter Schreyer, Kia's chief design officer. Kia first needs to get on more solid footing, he said.

Honda reportedly plans electric car for '15

Honda could be joining the growing ranks of electric-car makers and reportedly plans to sell one in the United States sometime around 2015. Reports in the Nikkei Business Daily in Japan say that the car would arrive then as part of Honda's plans to meet stricter mileage standards set to take effect for the 2016 model year. The car would be Honda's answer to the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt, which have announced eye-popping mpg figures and are due next year.

Future products: Mazda's new direct-injection engine family arrives in 2011

The big news at Mazda is a new family of direct-injection gasoline and diesel engines that will start to arrive in 2011. Mazda will make significant changes to vehicle platforms to accommodate the Sky engines, which will be more powerful and fuel-efficient at lower displacements than the company's current engines. The first Sky gasoline engine is expected to debut in the United States in 2011.