03 04 05 06 Ford Expedition Passenger Side Signal Mirror Textured Black Cover Af on 2040-parts.com

Citroën designers: Design students have 'golden opportunity'

Today's car design students "have got a fantastic opportunity in a very different world," say Citroën designers. Though the automotive industry has been suffering in many regions in the current economic climate, the next generation of car designers "have got a fantastic opportunity," says Andrew Cowell, Senior Design Manager at Citroën, in conversation with Car Design News at the Royal College of Art, London. "The industry will evolve quite a lot, and these guys (the students on the postgraduate Vehicle Design course) will come out into a very different world." "They'll start in a very interesting period", says Alexandre Malval, Citroën Design Director and himself a graduate from the RCA course.

Skoda Octavia for under £11k

Skoda Octavia for under £11k If we told you a place where you could grab a brand new VW Golf for £10,995 it’d grab your attention, right? And if we told you that not only was it a brand spanking new Golf, but it came with alloys, touch-screen stereo with CD changer, AirCon, electric windows and electric door mirrors, would that make it even more appealing? This brand new Golf is powered along by a perfectly decent 101bhp, 1.6 litre petrol lump which, although not the pick of the range, is a perfectly good lump with acceptable performance and economy.

BMW set to go front-wheel drive

BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer has confirmed that the German carmaker will introduce a new front-wheel-drive entry-level model positioned and priced below the existing 1-series as part of plans to help increase part sharing and to bolster the potential for production savings between the BMW and Mini brands, thus bringing an end to the era of rear- and four-wheel-drive-only BMW models. Speaking to AutoWeek at the Geneva motor show, Reithofer said internal BMW studies revealed that despite the downturn in the world's economy, there was continued demand for what he described as "premium vehicles" in the small-car class, before officially acknowledging plans that will see BMW produce a rival to the recently unveiled Audi A1 and a new Smart Forfour presently under development at Mercedes-Benz. "We will be extending the BMW and Mini brands into the small-car segment with new models and variants," he said.