Kyb 343460 Rear Gas Shock Absorber on 2040-parts.com

Audi TT Sportback concept – it’s a 5-door TT: Paris 2014

Audi TT Sportback concept – it’s a 5-door TT Audi has long been the master of the niche, so it’s no real surprise they’re looking for ways to ‘extend’ the Audi TT in to a series of new niche models. The latest take is this, the Audi TT Sportback concept, which has arrived at the Paris Motor Show as a big brother to the TT Coupe, with an extra pair of doors and an extra 290mm in length. Audi has also played with the look of the TT Sportback, with a new hexagonal grill, new headlights and a new bumper up front and the new tail lights and smaller back window give the TT Sportback an individual look (well, as individual as an Audi ever gets).

Walking on the Edge: Ford blings out 2011 Sport crossover with 22s, blacked-out grille

“Dude, that is sick,” a rival designer gushed to Ford's Doyle Letson when the 2011 Edge Sport was revealed at the Chicago auto show last winter. “What does it look like with the real wheels on?” Letson replied, “Those are the real wheels.” The rollers in question are 22-inch forged aluminum wheels with tuxedo-black spoke accents wrapped in Pirelli tires. They look like they're stolen from a SEMA concept, and they're perhaps the single most distinguishing feature on the Sport model, which launches with the rest of the redone Edge lineup later this summer.

Worth a read: Wired's 'Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design'

Wired has just published a series of short articles entitled 13 Lessons for Design's New Golden Age. While there are some interesting examples cited in the piece, the concluding article, ‘Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design' by the former creative director of Wired magazine, Scott Dadich, feels like it has particular resonance for car design. Dadich's Wrong Theory uses disruptive examples from the world of art, plus his own experience of working at Wired, to explain how design goes through phases: establishing a direction, creating a set of rules that define that direction and finally someone who dares to break from that direction.