Mopar Rimblow Steering Wheel on 2040-parts.com

Smart Forspeed concept signals new design direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand. Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014. "The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts.

BMW's EfficientDynamics teaser (2010)

This rather strange looking black BMW is the German car company’s latest publicity stunt. Painted matt black, and with ‘dontblogaboutthis’ emblazoned across its flanks, it is of course a tease designed to get forums fanatics and bloggers worked up into a frenzy as everyone tries to guess what it is. BMW has released just a few photos, plus a couple of videos, all of which are on www.dontblogaboutthis.com.

Skoda Octavia vRS to hit 200mph at Bonneville

The Skoda Octavia vRS - Bonneville bound. Skoda has come a very long way since Volkswagen rescued it from the ignominy of the communist era, and restored the pride to the Czech car maker. But even though the Skoda of today is now a mainstream maker of quality cars, things haven’t changed so much that they are about to launch a 200mph Skoda, or at least not one you can pop to your local Skoda dealers and get a VAT-free deal on.