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SAIC wins LA Auto Show Design Challenge

China's SAIC, the parent company of Roewe and MG brands (yes, Morris Garages and what used to be Rover), took the top spot in the LA Auto Show Design challenge with its Mobiliant Concept, beating other contestants like BMW DesignworksUSA, Subaru, Mazda, Changfeng, Quoros, and others. The theme for this year's challenge at the LA Auto Show was "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges." Entrants were directed to propose design concepts that integrated the concept of biomimicry into transportation concepts. Quite a challenge and quite an open theme, especially when you consider that last year's theme was pretty straightforward: "Highway Patrol Vehicles in the Year 2025." In 2012 the Subaru SHARC concept took the top prize.

Video: Aston Martin design chief on new Rapide

CAR recently caught up with Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman – on board one of the first Aston Rapides to be built. You can watch our video interview in the player below, as CAR contributor Guy Bird interviews Reichman. He talks about the new Rapide, and why it shouldn't be seen as a rival for a Merc S-class or even a Porsche Panamera, the crazy new Cygnet – a Toyota iQ by Aston Martin – and the new million-pound One-77 hypercar.

VW CrossBlue Coupe Concept heading for Shanghai

Volkswagen are heading to the Shanghai Motor Show with a new SUV concept as car makers strive to satisfy car buyer’s lust for rugged cars to prowl the urban landscape. But the VW CrossBlue Concept doesn’t seem to be a car that fits in to the fad for compact SUVs, rather it’s a full-size SUV that appears to be a coupe version of the VW CrossBlue Concept we saw earlier this year in Detroit. So far we only have a sketch of the CrossBlue Coupe, and you can be pretty sure it won’t be quite as ‘Coupe’ as the sketches indicate when it does turn up in Shanghai this weekend; think more Audi Q7 than Mercedes GLA.