The Club - Master Lock #263dat Titanium High Security Steering Wheel Lock - New on 2040-parts.com

Hot seats: from design to delivery [sponsored]

As the user demands on car interiors are increasingly influenced by their growing design consciousness, so suppliers like Lear strive to bring better-engineered seating to satisfy. 2013 was another big year for Lear, as Jeanette Puig-Pey, its global fabric & leather design manager, enthuses: "At our ‘Design2Perform' event we celebrated the unveiling of our brand new collection, with special emphasis on color and texture and our TeXstyle Enhance product, perfect for customization. Laser etching is part of this offering, it is exclusive to Lear Corporation and can be used to add refined design elements to cloth and leather." A mix of fabric and leather in seating is not new but is often seen by the consumer as a cheaper alternative to full leather.

German brands off to strong start in 2011

Robust U.S. car sales this year are helping drive German automakers to significant gains. The Volkswagen division did especially well in April, with 28,542 vehicles sold--a 23 percent increase from the year before.

Former VW and Renault designer Markus Haub turns artist with 'Racing Legends' collection

Former Volkswagen and Renault designer Markus Haub has merged photography, painting and digital effects to create a 'Racing Legends' series, which focuses on racecars from the 1960s and ‘70s. Haub, a Pforzheim University graduate, who now teaches at the Barcelona campus of the Instituto Europeo di Design school (IED) when not producing his unique artwork, uses software to manipulate his photography which is then printed and made into a collage. He then works into it with paint and other artists' tools, creating what you can see here.