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Mitsubishi closes California design studio

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. closed its design studio in Cypress, CA last Thursday – just one month shy of its 25th anniversary. A result of the recent downturn in the global economy, the closure of the facility will eliminate 33 design positions as part of a personnel cull that has seen 60 people within the automaker's US operations lose their jobs.

Peter Schreyer introduces Kia's new Sportage

It's a sign of just how significant the new Sportage is for Kia that rather than flying UK journalists to an international launch location the company instead rented a boutique hotel in London's Notting Hill, created a sketch gallery in the basement and flew in key members of the car's development team to meet the press — who were then lent some the first new Sportage's in the UK to test for a month. One executive present at the event was Kia's Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer. Car Design News was invited to meet with Peter to talk about his role at Kia and for him to talk us through a vehicle Kia is billing as the first to be designed entirely under his tenure.

McLaren launches Special Operations unit for customers' custom requests

British sports-car maker McLaren has launched its Special Operations unit, which will help the company's well-heeled buyers customize their cars. McLaren previewed some handiwork from the new division at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, with a custom example of the MP4-12C. The customized sports car had a variety of carbon-fiber trim upgrades and special treatment such as unique orange paintwork, a gloss-black roof, diamond-cut-finish wheels with gloss-back inners, 12C-branded carbon sill panels, a carbon steering wheel and carbon-fiber cover vents for the engine.