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Italdesign Giugiaro tweets first glimpse of new concept

Italdesign Giugiaro has released the first of a series of teaser images of its new Geneva-bound concept car, exclusively to its Twitter followers. The Volkswagen Group-owned Italian design house has announced that from today it will be posting teaser shots of the unnamed prototype in the build-up to this year's Geneva show. When the show gets up-and-running on  6 March, Giugiaro will be tweeting directly from their booth with pictures, news and videos.

Porsche announces new Weissach design center and wind tunnel

Porsche is to invest around €150m into its Weissach development facility, including a new design center. The plans also include an electronics integration department and a state-of-the art, on-site wind tunnel, which is hoped will allow the company to realize an holistic approach to efficient design, with a strong focus on aerodynamics. When we spoke with head of Porsche design, Michael Mauer, at this year's Paris motor show, he also alluded to the fact that the Volkswagen Group's – and, more specifically, Walter de'Silva's – recent influence on the German manufacturer was shifting its attitudes: "The Volkswagen Group has a very good understanding of how much freedom a brand needs to keep its characteristics and with [Walter] as 'conductor', I feel a lot of support with design issues within the company," explained Mauer.

Mercedes C-class facelift (2011) first pictures

Mercedes has facelifted the C-class - and the new one arrives in UK dealers in March 2011. It's a classic mild Merc facelift, with a cosmetic polish-up and a raft of more detailed engineering changes. It looks like a subtle upgrade, but Merc says more than 2000 new components are fitted.