Tyc 11-5377-01 Tail Light Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Kia preparing a range of sporting models

Kia is quietly readying a string of sportier models to pep up its humdrum image, CAR has learned. The burgeoning sports car plan is likely to sire everything from hot hatches to standalone sports cars. On our trip to Korea this week, sources at Kia HQ confirmed a range of performance models, designed to mix some excitement into a brand that now commands respect from mainstream buyers after its crawl upmarket to the volume market alongside Europe's mass-market brands.

Celebrating the Bugatti clan at the Mullin Museum

Legend holds that Ettore Bugatti was at dinner with some of his wealthiest clients when an aristocratic lady -- who already owned numerous Bugattis -- lamented, "I want to buy another Bugatti…but I want the most luxurious car in the world. Too bad I have to buy a Rolls-Royce or a Hispano-Suiza." Ettore nodded politely, in that insouciant way that temperamental geniuses do in order to distance their own reactions, excused himself after dinner, ran to his hotel room, and drew what would become the Type 41 Royale -- the most astonishing, dramatic, expensive luxury car in the world. True to the name of the recent crop of limited-edition Veyron SuperSports (and what Veyron isn't a limited edition?), Bugatti traffics in legend.

Bertone to celebrate 100th anniversary with Nuccio concept

Bertone will introduce its new Nuccio concept car at the Geneva Motor Show as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. The concept – named after the son of the company's founder Nuccio Bertone, who died in 1997 – appears to take inspiration from the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, one of Bertone's most famous designs, created by Marcello Gandini. The similarities in these teaser sketches include the extreme wedge profile and hood/windscreen surface, highlighted in orange.