Mopar Radio Knobs Challenger Cuda Charger Gtx on 2040-parts.com

Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive gets wheel hub electric motors

The Ford Fiesta eWheelDrive – a driveable research vehicle built by Ford and German specialists Schaeffler – may be a regular supermini in size, but it points towards a potential future EV which is much more compact and very manoeuvrable. Ford has taken a regular Fiesta and dumped its powertrain, replacing it with a battery bank where the engine would be and fitted a pair of in-hub electric motors on the rear wheels. But the plan is to build new cars with the batteries under the floor which frees up the space under the bonnet which can then be all but removed to create a very compact urban car that still has space for four.

Future products: Toyota lineup gets an 18-month makeover

Toyota plans to move into new product segments over the next 18 months, as well as redesign several mainstream models. By the spring of 2012, Toyota will launch all-new versions of the Camry, Yaris, Tacoma and RAV4. Also, the new FT-86 sport coupe, developed with Subaru, should arrive on these shores by that time.

Daihatsu Kopen concept: changeable body panels

Wondering what all the fuss is about the interchangeable body panels on the new Daihatsu Kopen concept at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show? Hopefully this will help it make a little more sense. As you can see from our montage image, Daihatsu has designed the Kopen concept with a kind of non-structural spaceframe.