No Fear Riding Pants on 2040-parts.com

Ford Verve Sedan

Just as Mazda is exhibiting a sedan version of the 2 at Auto Guangzhou, the automaker's parent company, Ford, is revealing a sedan version of the Verve concept. The second in a series of concepts that will culminate with yet another variant set to be unveiled in Detroit, this 'notchback' provides further insight to the future small car design direction for Ford. Ford's European design team, which created the Verve concepts, applied Ford's kinetic design philosophy and built on the look of its hatchback sibling.

Jaguar XE / Jaguar F-Type spied

Jaguar XE Spied - looking like a chopped XK To be honest, we don’t even know now whether Jaguar will call their new, smaller sports car the Jaguar XE or Jaguar F-Type, as there’s talk of them ditching the iconic Jaguar badging in favour of a Germanic numbers-based moniker across the range. But whatever Jaguar do finally decide to call their new small sports car, we know it’s officially in the planning and has been for more than a year. And now it’s out playing, albeit wrapped up in a chopped XK.

Karmann files for insolvency

Karmann, the century-old German coachbuilder synonymous with cabrios and the famous 1950s Karmann Ghia, has filed for insolvency. The company made the move Wednesday in Germany in response to a dramatic decline in revenue, an inability to pay for its massive layoff plan and the worldwide economic crisis. The North American operations, which make convertible tops for Detroit car companies and Volkswagen, are not affected, a spokesman said.