Design Sevices: MCE Design Workshops

Independent design studio Motorcity Europe (MCE) is launching another series of two- and five-day design workshops aimed at broadening the skills, experience and job prospects of anyone working - or looking to work - within the field of automotive design. Based on the massive success of the MCE Summer Seminars, these follow up workshops in February 2010 will be an intensely improved version, open to all skill levels of design. Top sponsors including Autodesk, Wacom and RLE Int'l will also be supporting this event.

Aston Martin Rapide 24hr race car (2010) unveiled

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 06 April 2010 09:30 Aston Martin has shown off the new race-spec version of its Rapide sports saloon. It's bound to make its competition debut at the 24-hour race at the Nurburgring on 15-16 May 2010. The Rapide will be driven by Aston CEO Ulrich Bez, who has a history of competing at the Nordschleife in his part-time role as a gentleman racer.

Fiat 500 gets Stop-Start

Flavour of the month, stop-start, and here’s another to add to the list. The Fiat 500 gets Start&Stop (I’ve lost count of the different monikers) as an option on the 1.2 Lounge, using Bosch technology to beef up the system to make it reliable. The Stop/Start also gets another Fiat moniker – Blue&Me – which gives the driver EcoDrive to aid emissions and adds hands-free phone and an entertainment system.