02-04 Nissan Xterra Rear Brake Outer Taillight Taillamp Lh Left Driver Side on 2040-parts.com

Whos Where: Ford of Europe reshapes their design department

It was only to be expected that some of the brightest creative forces should follow Martin Smith who joined Ford of Europe from his position as GM Europe Design Director in August this year. Stefan Lamm was a studio chief designer at Opel - he was recently confirmed as Chief Designer Exteriors at Ford. At the same time two new appointments were announced alongside an interesting restructuring of Ford of Europe's design department.

Skoda Yeti rolls out

The first Skoda Yeti has rolled of the production line in the Czech Republic - Delivery in the UK starts in September The Skoda Yeti is a promising, rufty-tufty ‘SmallRoader’, based on parent company VW’s Tiguan. But the Skoda holds the promise of more for less, a trick Skoda has managed to pull off with a number of VW products. Skoda has also been out playing with the Yeti in Norway, exposing it to a wide variety of off and on-road surfaces to shake it down properly before the first customer cars are ready for delivery.

Multi-touch UI reduces touchscreen interaction to simple swipes [w/video]

Touchscreens have become widespread standard features in many cars over the last few years, consolidating the modern car's many functions into one interface. But despite their advantages there's the big downside of driver distraction, something user interface designer Matthaeus Krenn believes he has solved with his UI. Unlike most other touchscreens, Krenn's interface isn't organized into menus and small, hard-to-hit buttons, but instead makes use of multi-touch gestures, reducing the accuracy and attention needed to operate key functions.