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Baby Rolls revealed as boss leaves

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 14 March 2008 07:33 CAR today reveals the look of the new 'baby' Rolls-Royce - just as it is announced that boss Ian Robertson will head back to BMW as Munich's new sales and marketing boss. The new model due in 2010 will nudge the most famous of luxury brands downmarket nearer upper-echelon Merc S-classes, but the 49-year-old chief exec won't be around to see the launch of the landmark model.The baby Rolls-RoyceThe Phantom family has now grown to three models, after the Coupe was unveiled at this month's Geneva Motor Show to join the Drophead Coupe. And in 2010 Rolls-Royce will launch RR4 - the new £170,000 baby Rolls to stretch the brand 'downmarket' and plug the gap between cheaper Bentley Continentals and the super-luxury models from Rolls and Maybach costing nearer a quarter of a million pounds.It will be longer than the next-generation LWB BMW 7-series, upon whose mechanicals RR4 is based.

Only the top is soft in new Audi A5/S5 cabriolet

Audi is bucking the trend among luxury automakers who are churning out hardtop convertibles, as the new A5/S5 cabriolets that will reach these shores in October will be the old-fashioned, soft-top design. While other manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Volvo, among others, offer folding hard-tops, Audi says the compromise necessary to make room for the top and all its mechanical apparatus makes a soft-top the right choice for a small to mid-size convertible. The soft top is well insulated; even during a steady rain during our first drive of the car, the cabin was relatively quiet.

Interior Motives China Conference 2010: Day 2

Session 5: Color and Trim On the second day of the conference, Andreas Wlasak, Vice President of Industrial Design at Faurecia, opened proceedings by announcing that the company plans to open a design studio in Shanghai this year. "A design centre in Shanghai – a new place in China for 2010 – this is a commitment," he declared. Wlasak then asked what OEMs should look for in terms of visualizing the concept of ‘green' design inside the vehicle interior: "OEMs might look for 'visual' green – how can you make it visible that the vehicle is efficient and reducing CO2?" He believed real wood is one likely way of achieving this, as people want to feel natural surfaces, and he also envisaged translucent surfaces playing a key role in years to come.