Quick Steer Ball Joint Eqck7257 on 2040-parts.com

Demise of kei cars on the horizon?

The kei car has long been a staple of the Japanese automobile industry and its car culture. Too diminutive for Western markets, the tiny cars and trucks are a strong influencer of design in Japan. Now, as The New York Times reports, the Japanese government has hit kei cars with increases in sales tax, gasoline prices and has reduced the kei car tax break introduced to make the cars popular in the first place by 50 percent.

Interior Motives Design Awards 2013 judges decide shortlist

The shortlist of potential winners in the 2013 Interior Motives Design Awards has been announced, and can be viewed here. This year's competition saw a record number of entries submitted: some 198 projects from 28 schools spread across 19 different countries. From this pool of contenders, each of our distinguished jury panel was asked to nominate their top three in each of the eight categories in contention.

June 29: No problems here

I am now in my office, which is 22 miles from my home. It used up about 1/3 of its charge to get here, with the air conditioning running. It has been plugged in to a 120-volt outlet in the building's parking structure for seven hours.