Wrenches Toptul 0xtaeec2022 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.

Autoweek in review: What you may have missed

It was a slower week in the newsroom as 2012 winded down. On Monday, we learned how motorcycles were coming back and got some ideas for last-minute holiday gifts. In the racing world, the Trans Am Series announced that it’s expanding the 2013 race schedule.

Smart Forspeed Concept reveled

Smart Forspeed Concept - and the electric bike and scooter that will make production You’ve got to wonder if Smart is just a game for Mercedes. A bit like Maybach, except they keep churning out endless cars and concepts and editions and sales seem to go nowhere, instead of the Maybach way of keeping the same cars for a decade – and sales go nowhere. Last year in the UK Smart sales were down nearly 9% at a time you would expect sales of eco-focused small cars to boom.