Rubicon Express Re1444 Leaf Spring on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: New Design Directors Appointed at PSA

PSA Peugeot Citroen has announced the appointment of Gilles Vidal to Design Director for Peugeot and Thierry Metroz to fill the Design Director position at Citroën. Both Vidal and Metroz will report to PSA Group Design Director Jean-Pierre Ploué when they start their new roles on January 4, 2010. The Design Director positions at both Peugeot and Citroen have effectively been left vacant since Jean-Pierre Ploue was promoted to lead the Group's design efforts in October 2008.

Aston Martin revives Vanquish name for DBS replacement

Aston Martin is reviving the Vanquish name for the replacement of the DBS coupe, which will feature a full carbon-fiber body, a 565-hp V12 and a mass of engineering revisions in an effort to eclipse Ferrari's F12 Berlinetta. The Vanquish name goes back to the beefy, old-school model of 2001. Aston hopes that magic will rub off on its next flagship, a heavily revised version of the DBS made famous by its appearance in the Bond movie Casino Royale.

BMW boss tells the truth about electric cars. And then has to apologise for doing so.

BMW US CEO Jim O'Donnell - "EVs won't work for more than 90% of drivers" Really, you do have to ask what kind of barking mad world we live in when the boss of a car company is forced to apologise for telling the truth, simply because it upsets a vocal minority (and his bosses, no doubt) We’ve been banging on for years about how useless electric cars are as a replacement for the internal combustion engine, and how they are really only viable as inner-city runarounds and as toys for the better-off. Even then, electric cars have their problems. As inner-city cars EVs certainly do the local environment a favour by transferring emissions to the point of electricity generation instead of the point of use.