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Driven: Ford Flex

When Ford unveiled the Fairlane concept in 2005, the company attempted to "rewrite the people mover story", according to Group Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer, J Mays. The Minivan, once the symbol of suburban America, had fallen out of favor - its dowdy, "soccer mom" image eschewed in exchange for upscale, aggressive SUVs. According to Mays, the idea with the Fairlane was to "move people emotionally as well as physically", something few minivans had done before.

Essay: Variable Degrees of Translucency

Car door panels and fenders are generally made of steel, sometimes of aluminum or plastic composites, and you can't see through them. Car windows, on the other hand, are made of a transparent sandwich of glass and plastic - and you can see through them. But in the future there will be variable degrees of transparency: translucent elements where once there were none, traditional window areas that will have opaque elements and graduated progressions from opaque to see-through.

Renault at the London motor show 2008

By James Foxall and CAR reader reporter Carcare Motor Shows 22 July 2008 13:46 With the Paris motor show coming up in October 2008, it’s a surprise Renault had anything of interest to offer show-goers at this week's London exhibition. But Renault UK had other ideas... The French firm’s R26.R – a lightweight, stripped-out Megane, made its world debut.