Radio Antenna For 2012 Kia Optima. Brand New. 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.

BMW M550d xDrive confirmed. X5 M50d & X6 M50d likely

BMW M550d xDrive arriving March 2012 (M5 pictured) We’ve been talking about the BMW triple-turbo diesel for a long time. As far back as Spring 2009 we reported BMW were working on a triple-turbo diesel, which we expected to see the light of day first in the BMW X5. It took more than two years for BMW to catch up with our story on the triple-turbo diesel, but we finally had BMW man  Brian Watts confirming the new diesel, but that it would turn up as the M550d.

2012 Porsche 911 undisguised (almost) on Video

2012 Porsche 911 undisguised - bar the lights It’s quite hard to find anything new to report about the 2012 Porsche 911 – at least on how it looks – when Porsche themselves release ‘spy’ video of the new 911. But this 911 video shows more. A sharp-eyed – and well-prepared – Porsche fan spotted the brown (Topaz Brown Metallic by the look – trendy colour) 911 at a petrol station in Suttgart and managed to grab some half-decent footage.