Vespa Granturismo Headlamp Assembly on 2040-parts.com

BMW Guggenheim Lab

With many surveys suggesting the world's automobile buyers are growing younger and more urban, saavy automobile companies are rushing to show their concern with cities, the future - and the future of cities. In New York City recently, black Audi A8s recently ferried 'influencers' to the Lower East Side area around the New Museum to attend an Audi supported Urban Future Initiative part of the area's Festival of Ideas. The Volkswagen Group and the Museum of Modern Art promise a major announcement of future cooperation, on May 23, and BMW recently announced that it is supporting the Guggenheim Museum in a six-year, nine-city endeavor called the BMW Guggenheim Lab.

Armor-plated SUV among extravagant debuts at Top Marques Monaco show

While AutoWeek editors were pounding the pavement at the New York auto show last week, the world's silly rich were nodding polite approval at the Top Marques Monaco show. Included in the debuts were Gemballa, Fisker, Keating, Tirrito and Conquest, the latter of which showed off a ridiculously large, armor-plated SUV called the Knight XV that reportedly took organizers three hours just to maneuver it through the hall doors. Lest we forget that we're all human, Top Marques Monaco also had its “Black Friday at Wal-Mart” moments: According to organizers, Gemballa's world premiere of the Tornado was cut short after it was purchased “within 16 seconds of the show doors opening by a sheikh eager to have a piece of the action.” Full wrap-up release from Top Marques Monaco below.

One Lap of the Web: An Engine of Ice and Fire

-- George R.R. Martin, beloved and bearded historian of the great land of Westeros, drives a first-generation Mazda RX-7 -- according to Jalopnik, and a creepy Street View-browsing "Game of Thrones" fan. Despite swimming in HBO cash, Martin lives modestly in Santa Fe, N.