Suzuki 09362-09008 Nipple on 2040-parts.com

New techniques cut cost of carbon fiber

Carbon fiber, once so costly that it was the preferred material only for fighter planes and supercars, is catching the attention of weight-conscious automakers. Carbon fiber's cost is falling dramatically, thanks to production advances that let suppliers speed the material's finicky, and costly, curing process. One technological breakthrough that makes carbon-fiber auto parts more affordable may come from a process used to make carbon-fiber golf clubs.

Saab 9-4X Revealed

Saab 9-4X Revealed It’s nice to see that Saab are getting back to being a maker of cars rather than a pawn of GM, and the reveal this afternoon of the Saab 9-4X marks the second new model in 2010 for Saab, even though both the Saab 9-5 and the Saab 9-4X have been on the horizon for what seems like forever. And, of course, after years (buried) under the GM umbrella  Saab’s products are going to be GM based, at least for now. So what we have with the Saab 904X is a Saab-ised Cadillac SRX, but that’s not too bad a thing.

BMW M3 Matte Edition: China only

BMW M3 Matte Edition - China's second limited edition M3 in a year It’s less than a year since China got it’s last BMW M3 special – the BMW M3 Tiger Edition – so we’re guessing it sold rather well as BMW has launched another limited edition M3 just for the Chinese market – the BMW M3 Matte Edition. It isn’t going to be horribly difficult to work out that the defining feature of the M3 Matte Edition is its paint job. It’s Matt Black.