Pbi 158-11 Pbi Sprkt C/s 11t on 2040-parts.com

SAIC wins LA Auto Show Design Challenge

China's SAIC, the parent company of Roewe and MG brands (yes, Morris Garages and what used to be Rover), took the top spot in the LA Auto Show Design challenge with its Mobiliant Concept, beating other contestants like BMW DesignworksUSA, Subaru, Mazda, Changfeng, Quoros, and others. The theme for this year's challenge at the LA Auto Show was "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges." Entrants were directed to propose design concepts that integrated the concept of biomimicry into transportation concepts. Quite a challenge and quite an open theme, especially when you consider that last year's theme was pretty straightforward: "Highway Patrol Vehicles in the Year 2025." In 2012 the Subaru SHARC concept took the top prize.

2012 Fiesta ST confirmed

2012 Fiesta ST caught testing in the US (photo via WCF) We really like the current Ford Fiesta; it’s a cracking little car. It’s just a shame that the closest it comes to being a hot hatch is the little more than lukewarm Fiesta Zetec S. But that’s about to change, and not before time.

Mercedes to launch AMG branded baby SLS

AMG badged baby SLS coming Mercedes are to launch an AMG branded small sports car in 2012 based on a cut-down version of the Mercedes SLS. We’ve thought for some time it was almost certain that Mercedes would build a smaller version of the SLS to take on cars like the Porsche 911 and Audi R8. And back in October we got confirmation from AMG’s Christoph Jung that Mercedes and AMG are indeed working on a new, smaller SLS.