Side Marker Light Assembly With Bulb Lh on 2040-parts.com

Smart Forspeed concept signals new design direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand. Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014. "The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts.

London hogging too much transport investment

THE UNDERFUNDING of transport projects outside London in recent years "cannot be allowed to continue", says a report from MPs. Ministers must use the new funding arrangements for local projects to "ensure that there is a fairer allocation of funding", said the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee. "No area across our nation should be second class in relation to the allocation of transport infrastructure funds," the MPs said.

Motion Simulation TL1: Ariel builds an immersive simulator

Ariel Moto Company, makers of the mad-yet-minimalist Atom sportscar, have teamed up with new UK firm Motion Simulation to develop and manufacture the TL1 immersive motion simulator. Featuring a spherical immersive projection screen and adjustable driving position, the TL1's composite pod allows vicarious thrill-seekers to try piloting anything from an F1 car to a combat aircraft with a greater degree of realism than existing simulator chairs. In the video above, the TL1 is configured as as Touring Car racer.