Porsche 959 Steering Wheel on 2040-parts.com

Exclusive: Laurens van den Acker to replace Patrick le Quément at Renault

The wheels of change are continuing to turn within the automotive design industry, with yet another new appointment being made at the director level. According to industry insiders, Laurens van den Acker is set become the new Design Director at Renault when Patrick le Quément retires later this year. One of the most pre-eminent car designers in the world, Patrick le Quément began his design career at Simca, worked at Ford for 17 years and did a brief stint at Volkswagen before taking the top design job at Renault.

New Ford Focus RS to arrive in 2015. Apparently.

It’s being reported that a new Ford Focus RS will arrive in 2015 with around 330bhp from a 2.3 litre four cylinder turbo. It will be front wheel drive. Ford has finally got the Focus ST out in to the wild, and inevitably attention has now turned to something hot from the Focus instead of just warm – a new Focus RS.

Volkswagen prices limited-edition Beetle GSR

Volkswagen is bringing back the yellow-and-black Beetle GSR for 2014, more than 40 years after the “Yellow Black Racer” (Gelb Schwarzer Renner) debuted for the first time. That car had around 50 hp; the new one will eclipse that by just a little bit. On sale today, the Beetle GSR will use VW's turbocharged 2.0-liter TSI engine making 210 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque.