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MG Design Centre opens in UK

The opening of MG's new design center this week at the historic production site of Longbridge, Birmingham, England was both an incredible and credible occasion. Incredible, because the brand looked dead in the water after the debacle of MG Rover's collapse in 2005 and even after various Chinese takeovers, its UK operation seemed destined to play no more than a tokenistic bit part. And thankfully credible too, because now all of MG's global design will genuinely be led from this new facility in the epicentre of England's traditional motoring heartland.

Mercedes-Benz plans to add a fifth compact model in 2014

Mercedes-Benz will build a fifth variant off its future A- and B-class compact-car platform. The model will be a so-called "shooting brake," company sources said, adding that the low-slung sporty station wagon will start arriving at European dealerships in 2014. The car will most likely be called the CLC Shooting Brake, the sources said.

See craftsmen build the Maserati Alfieri

At Geneva earlier this month, Maserati debuted the Alfieri concept, a love letter to Maserati's first 100 years and a preview of the next few years, if not the next 100. Here, design chief Lorenzo Ramaciotti shows how the Alfieri -- named after one of the five Maserati brothers -- was inspired by the 1954 Maserati A6GCS/53, as previously threatened, especially in the proportions. But like any car, the key is always in the proportions.