El Camino Bulbs & Lamps on 2040-parts.com

100% TobeUs: 100 designers for 100 new toy cars

Perturbed to see his children lost interest in their toys after just a few hours, Italian designer Matteo Ragni conceived a plan to create a toy with which they could form an emotional attachment. No simple feat, as parents will testify. After crafting simple cars from fragrant cedar wood, he saw his children's reactions and invited 99 other international designers to get involved.

Volvo XC30 for 2012

It's starting to look as if the baby Volvo Crossover - the XC30 - is getting close The rumour mill has been working on a smaller crossover/SUV from Volvo for a long time – since just about the time that the Volvo C30 first hit the road. And it’s a car that makes a lot of sense, especially in the current market. So it’s not any sort of surprise to see the rumour resurface, but we’re a bit peeved to have missed (until now) the comment that’s being attributed to Lex Kerssemakers – Volvo’s Overseas Corporate Strategy President – from Geneva when he apparently said “There will be some further expansion of the XC range in the near future”.

Opel Ampera – Official picture ahead of Geneva

GM really needs the Chevy Volt/Opel Ampera to be well received. The problem is that the technology for the car doesn’t even exist yet, unless of course GM have made huge strides they’re about to reveal when the car gets fully unveiled at Geneva ’09 tomorrow. But it’s not a proper reveal, in the sense that the Ampera will be ready to sell.