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Plans for Smart’s three-seat sports car uncovered in patent drawings

Mercedes-Benz is developing a three-seat sports car for Smart. Depicted here in a series of European patent-application sketches obtained by AutoWeek, the radical new sports car forms part of an extended range of new Smart models planned for introduction by the middle of the next decade, including a more conventional four-seater to be produced in cooperation with Renault. Mercedes-Benz is reacting to increased competition from Toyota in the form of the iQ and the impending arrival of similar urban-based offerings from premium-brand rivals Audi and BMW.

Michelin Recognizes CCS Student Talent

Five senior students from the Transportation Design Department of the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit have won prestigious design awards at the 21st Annual Michelin-CCS Design Competition. The creative brief for the competition theme "Electrifying - Beautiful, Innovative and Radiant" required the students to submit electric vehicle design solutions they could realistically envision driving in the year 2020, as well as designs which addressed a specific transportation problem or opportunity. Each student also submitted a separate tire/wheel assembly based on Michelin's Active Wheel technology.

Maybach, or not Maybach? That is the question.

Maybach - off to Gaydon? Actually, whether to keep Maybach on the Daimler life support system is a question that has taxed the brains of many a Mercedes exec,  almost since the Maybach brand got its revival under Mercedes and turned in to a cross between a stretched old S-Class, a Playstation and a glitterball. Because despite the efforts of Mercedes to position the Maybach above the S-Class – and in to competition with Rolls Royce and Bentley – the Maybach has somehow conspired to be less desirable than the S-Class.