Marine Johnson / Omc Smart Tach on 2040-parts.com

BMW experiments with laser headlamps

Headlamp technology is rapidly advancing, and as LED lights become commonplace, many wonder what's next. BMW suggests lasers, which could offer new safety and function. Compared with today's LED headlamps, BMW's laser-cut lights have intensity a thousand times greater than that of LEDs while consuming about half the energy.

Ford Grand C-Max & C-Max – Frankfurt Catchup

Ford has revealed the new C-Max range in Frankfurt including the Grand C-Max (pictured). Two weeks ago we took the lid off the new Ford C-Max with the first pictures of Ford’s 2010 C-Max, which is the first car from Ford to be built on the next generation Focus platform (C-Segment Platform). With swooping, overgrown-coupe lines Ford has done a good job of injecting a bit of style and it’s Kinetic design language in to the new C-Max.

The other side of the curtain: A look back at Lada, Volga and more

While Americans in the 1960s and '70s were enjoying the heyday of muscle-car madness, our friends over in the Soviet Union were treated to an entirely different kind of automobile. Fiat-based Ladas and Russian-born Volgas were the cars of the day, and our friends at Retronaut have gathered some press materials and advertisements for the compact sedans. Lada was named after a famous Czech manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1960s.