on 2040-parts.com

Gorden Wagener on how Mercedes is "moving from a traditional luxury brand to a modern luxury brand"

Mercedes' 'home' design studio in Sindelfingen, Germany is housed in an expansive 30,000-square meter building designed by Renzo Piano. The lobby is unassuming, but we're soon through into what Mercedes' grandly calls 'the Vision Room.' It's here that strategic meetings are held with the firm's board, and where we meet Gorden Wagener, Mercedes' head of design since 2008. It's in the Vision Room that Wagener convinced the Mercedes board of the merits of his overarching design philosophy: 'sensual purity'.

Aston Martin V12 Zagato confirmed for limited production

Aston Martin V12 Zagato confirmed for production It didn’t take a genius to work out that the Aston Martin V12 Zagato would not just be incarnated as the Zig and Zag cars for the Nurburgring, but as a proper production car. Not a production car in the true sense, but a limited edition car much like the Aston Martin Zagato’s gone by. In fact we reported some time ago that we expected the V12 Zagato to start a limited production run of either 89 or 99 cars as soon as the Aston Martin One-77 ends production, and that the target price would be in the £300-350k range.

Rearview cameras may become mandatory

Rearview cameras may become a mandatory feature in all passenger cars by 2014 if US Congress approves a rule submitted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Auto safety regulators have taken the decision to submit a final rule to Congress after figures emerged from non-profit group KidsandCars.org that stated that two children die and about 50 are injured every week when someone accidentally backs over them in a vehicle. In one quite shocking public-service announcement KidsAndCars.org showed that 62 children could fit behind a large SUV without being visible to the driver in any of the mirrors.