2004 Dodge Caravan Automatic Transmission Fwd 2657066 on 2040-parts.com

CDN and GM launch new interactive competition for students in North America

Multiple internships on offer with CDN-GM Interactive Competition Car Design News is pleased to announce the launch of the Car Design News-GM interactive design competition, a collaboration with GM and our partners, Dassault Systèmes and Faurecia. Eight student winners will be awarded internships at GM's design studios in North America in 2012 as the principal prizes, whilst our partner, Faurecia, will be choosing its own additional winner and offering this student an internship at its studios in either the US, Europe or Asia.  The competition is open to students studying at college/university level in the USA and Canada, on any design course, and to former students who graduated from these courses within the period April 2010 to March 2011. Students display and update their ideas and work-in-progress on the competition's website, where the interactivity comes from the ability of observers to comment and suggest specific amendments, and from GM mentors who will publicly guide and support the students.

New Vauxhall VXR8 GTS gets 576bhp & costs £54,999

The new Vauxhall VXR8 GTS gets 576bhp If you’re going to make your most potent saloon car more powerful, you could just tweak the engine management a bit to add a few more horses. But Vauxhall have gone a bit further with the latest VXR8 GTS – it gets a 6.2 litre V8 from the Camaro ZL1, a whole 150bhp and 140lb/ft of torque than the old VXR8. Vauxhall has based the GTS on Holden’s new GEN-F GTS – Australia’s maddest production Holden – and the increase in power comes courtesy of a supercharger, new exhaust system.

Top Gear upsets Belfast

Top Gear are in trouble with N. Ireland politicians over their stunts in Belfast Which with a show as popular as Top Gear – and popular all over the world, no less – that seems a pretty sensible reaction. But it would seem it’s not a universal reaction.