Who's Where: David Hilton appointed Head of Exterior Design for Bentley

David Hilton has been appointed Head of Exterior Design for Bentley Motors, based in the UK. The super-luxury brand – owned by the Volkswagen Group – is headed by CEO Wolfgang Durheimer, who is also in charge of Bugatti design development. US-born Hilton replaces Raul Pires in Crewe, Cheshire, after he left Bentley at the end of 2011 to join VW-owned Italdesign.

17,000 solar panels to power Toyota’s Derbyshire plant

Toyota’s manufacturing plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire, where the Auris and Avensis are built, will install the biggest solar panel system yet seen in a UK car plant.  British Gas, which will stump up the £10 million cost of installing the solar panels, and Toyota are working together to save 2000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. Once the solar panels are installed, they claim it will save enough energy to build approximately 7000 cars a year.

Infiniti push on with Q50 Eau Rouge project with Sebastian Vettel (video)

Sebastian Vettel takes the Infini Q50 Eau Rouge round Millbrook The Infini Q50 Eau Rouge Concept made an appearance at the Detroit Auto Show in January as a possible Performance halo from Infiniti and featuring an appealing 552 bhp. And it looks like it could be heading for production. With Infiniti keen to cash-in on its sponsorship of Red Bull – and the appointment of Sebastian Vettel as Performance Director – the Q50 Eau Rouge could be a good way to create a halo performance model for Infiniti.