1940,1941 Ford Truck Tail Gate on 2040-parts.com

Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) starts European sales

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (pictured) now on sale in Europe The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV landed officially at the Paris Motor Show in 2012 – preceded by a number of concepts before Mistubishi was happy – as a plug-in hybrid from Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi had promised the Outlander PHEV would go on sale in 2013 so, by the skin of their teeth, they’re starting to roll it out in European markets with the Netherlands up first followed by the Nordic countries – and the UK somewhere down the list. With 12,000 orders for the Outlander PHEV in Europe already, Mitsubishi are assured of a decent level of sales for their PHEV SUV, although those sales are driven by the daft tax breaks on offer for ‘green’ cars more than anything else.

IED collaborates with McLaren to create the crossovers of 2020

Students from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin have collaborated with British super car manufacturer, McLaren Automotive, to design an off-road, hybrid two-seater for 2020. The 33, third-year post-diploma Transportation Design students were briefed by McLaren Automotive design director, Frank Stephenson, to create a car capable of 'combining sports excellence, driving thrills and the McLaren performance characteristics both off- and on-road'. "McLaren Automotive's plans are wholly based on two-seat, mid-engined performance cars," explained Stephenson.

Worth a read: Wired's 'Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design'

Wired has just published a series of short articles entitled 13 Lessons for Design's New Golden Age. While there are some interesting examples cited in the piece, the concluding article, ‘Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design' by the former creative director of Wired magazine, Scott Dadich, feels like it has particular resonance for car design. Dadich's Wrong Theory uses disruptive examples from the world of art, plus his own experience of working at Wired, to explain how design goes through phases: establishing a direction, creating a set of rules that define that direction and finally someone who dares to break from that direction.