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Who's Where: Martin Smith to retire, succeeded by Joel Piaskowski as Ford Europe head of design

Martin Smith, head of Ford of Europe design for the last 10 years, will retire at the end of this year, before which he will work on a project to study the future direction of the company's global design direction. He will be replaced by current head of strategic concepts group, Joel Piaskowski on 1 July. Smith (64) first joined Ford back in 2004, leaving General Motors as director of design for Opel/Vauxhall.

Renault designers on their interpretation of luxury [w/Video]

Renault's design chief Laurens van den Acker and his design team have stressed how the Initiale Paris concept previews how Renault design's tactics will help steer clear of its rivals within the premium segment.  The concept – the sixth to be developed in the design strategy inspired by the cycle of life, now in the Wisdom stage – heralds Renault's return to the high-end market after a number of years. It was, therefore, important that the design be a positive rejection of traditional ideas of luxury, design director of concept cars Axel Breun believes. Designer Choung Sun Oh goes to great pains to stress how the design team worked towards developing a highly original design to set them apart from rivaling brands upon re-entry.

Dacia will offer “Shockingly Affordable” UK car prices says Renault

Dacia Duster promises to be sub £10k in the UK Renault’s budget brand Dacia will offer “Shockingly Affordable” prices in the UK from 2013. Dacia Duster SUV under £10k and Sandero under £7k. This week Renault announced a ’100 Day Countdown’ to the arrival of the Dacia brand in the UK (well, strictly speaking, that’s a re-arrival) although the reality is that Dacia vehicles won’t actually arrive until January 2013, although you will be order one in June.