Mercedes 113 Fender/wheel Well Trim on 2040-parts.com

Techart at 2009 Frankfurt motor show

By Tom Sharpe First Official Pictures 18 September 2009 14:30 The aftermarket tuning community began its assault on the Porsche Panamera for the first time at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, and leading the pack was Stuttgart-based outfit Techart. Using Porsche’s Panamera Turbo as its canvas, Techart used its stand to demonstrate how it’s gone all-out to make its mark on the luxury GT, introducing what it calls a 'discreet elegance' into the mix. Visually, there are few places where Techart hasn't had a go at making an impact of some kind.

Watch craftsmen build the Alfa Romeo 4C

Hey, remember the Alfa Romeo 4C? Maybe the long lag between the two-seater's Geneva motor show debut and the launch scheduled for later this year (to say nothing of the car's maddeningly long gestation period) has left your memory a little rusty, but the workers at the Modena Maserati plant haven't forgotten about the 4C. Need proof?

Bentley future design competition held at Hongik University, South Korea

Bentley has held its first design competition in collaboration with a university outside the UK. Director of design, Luc Donckerwolke, and head of exterior and advanced design, Sangyup Lee, tasked students at Hongik University in Seoul with designing a Bentley that would be released in 2040. In addition to looking to the future, students were asked to take the Bentley 'Blue Train' as inspiration: the car driven by three-time Le Mans-winner, Woolf Barnato, who, in March 1930, bet £100 that he could drive his Bentley from Cannes in the south of France to The Conservative Club in London in the time it took the luxurious Blue Train to travel from Cannes to Calais on the English Channel.