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Art Center Summit - Designing Sustainable Mobility

Shrinking oil reserves, global warming, failed political administration policies, the car as an avatar, industrial humanism and the motorized shoe were just a few of the topics and ideas discussed at the Art Center College of Design 'Designing Sustainable Mobility' conference, held in California in February. For the designers in the room, a bright light was shone from BMW's Chris Bangle. A lively speaker with an optimistic speech giving us terms like "Industrial Humanism" and "design with meaning".

Toyota FT-86 Concept – say ‘hachi roku’

The Toyota FT-86 Concept will preview at Tokyo The FT-86 (hachi roku is Japanese for 86) is a small (13′ 8″ long) rear-wheel drive sports coupe which is going to turn up not just as a Toyota but also as a Subaru. It uses the 2.0 Boxer engine found in the Impreza, but by the time it finds its way to market in 2011 – as both a Toyota and a Subaru – it’s likely to get the next generation Boxer lump. The FT-86 is Toyota’s way of launching itself back in to the sports market – a market it once did well in with cars like the MR2 – and gain some credibility, and custom, from younger drivers.

Nissan X-Trail (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

This is the new Nissan X-Trail, which goes on UK sale in 2014. By offering a seven-seater option and an adaptive four-wheel-drive powertrain, Nissan is sounding the death-knell for its Qashqai+2 model: there’s to be a new, five-seater Qashqai next year. So, it better be good, the new X-Trail.