Pininfarina 1962 Fiat 1600s Coupe Old Blue Print Copy - Scala 1-10 on 2040-parts.com

Qoros: A new Chinese car brand to hit Europe in 2013

Qoros – a joint venture between Chery and Israel Corporation – will launch an offensive on the European car market at Geneva 2013. The Chinese car market is huge, but most Chinese car makers are all but unknown outside China. But that could change with the launch of a range of Qoros cars in Europe, with the first reveal scheduled for the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.

Lexus IS Design contest winner to be built for SEMA 2013

Somewhere in the shortlist of 25 semi-finalists from the Lexus IS Design contest lurks the design that will be built by tuner VIP Auto Salon and take pride of place on Lexus' stand at SEMA later this year. Hosted by online art community deviantART, the competition asked entrants to customize a Lexus IS saloon using any method they liked. The winner will also be given a one-year lease of the IS and other prizes.

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.