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CDN–GM Interactive Design Competition winners announced at NAIAS

The winners of the CDN–GM Interactive Design Competition have been announced at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Following a guided tour of the auto show with the GM design team, the finalists gathered on the GMC stand in Cobo Hall where Mark Adams and Ken Parkinson – heads of design for Cadillac & Buick, and Chevrolet & GMC respectively – were joined by Car Design News' Editor Owen Ready to present the winners of each brand's competition brief. Joining them on stage were the mentors from GM's design teams who interacted with the entrants throughout the competition to critique and help develop their work, making this a truly unique contest.

Concept Car of the Week: Mercury El Gato (1970)

Of all the brands that marked American automobile history, Mercury had never been the most popular or the most loved, which ultimately led to its demise in 2011 when Ford chose to terminate the brand. To be fair only a handful of Mercury models are worth remembering: the 1950 Mercury Eight iconic base for custom cars, the 1955 Montclair, the Mustang-based Cougar, the Marauder X-100, the evil Cyclone Spoiler. However one of their coolest creations is fairly unknown mostly due its short concept car life: El Gato, in Spanish translating as "The Cat".

Nissan LEAF: Fleet sales double

Nissan has revealed that fleet sales of its electric LEAF have doubled in the UK, with overall Nissan fleet sales up 9 per cent. Sales of electric cars are not exactly stellar, but there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel shining dimly on UK EV sales – the fleet sector. Nissan has reported that its fleet sales in the UK – with 89 per cent of all fleets sales of cars actually built in the UK – has risen by 9 per cent so far in 2012, but the Nissan LEAF EV has seen its fleets sales more than double.