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Jaguar XJ vs. Porsche Panamera, an AutoWeek popularity contest

Seen last week in California: the redesigned Jaguar XJ sedan is parked next to the new Porsche Panamera sedan. As far as we can tell, it's the first time that these two new cars have stood side by side, a world exclusive. And we want to know--which one would you put in your garage?

Video: Jaguar's Julian Thomson on the importance of design values

Jaguar's Head of Advanced Design, Julian Thomson, appeared at this month's PSFK Conference in London giving a talk on design values. Thomson's talk, ‘Concepting Dreams, Making Reality Happen', dealt with questions of creating a design story as well as how Jaguar uses the value of its heritage while keeping things original and new. Thomson – the man behind the 2010 C-X75 and the recently revealed F-Type – said, "You can't get a good design story if you don't look at your heritage, where you came from, where your values came from." He went on to discuss the ‘sad years of Jaguar', from around 1968 to 2004 where Jaguar was too timid to develop and "essentially made the same-looking car." He put this down to a reluctance on Jaguar's part to move too far away from its successful models and, quite interestingly, because "not only did we start doing market research, we started asking Americans what they wanted." Watch the full video on the left.

Honda designers talk about Tokyo concepts

With the Tokyo motor show now firmly in our rear view mirrors, Honda has made us aware of a new addition to its website that highlights the numerous concepts the Japanese company had on show at the exhibition. Answering the question: ‘ What makes people feel good?' Honda designers take us through each of the seven concepts showcased at the Tokyo show, including the RC-E electric motorcycle; E-Canopy three-wheeled scooter; MotorCompo folding scooter; TownWalker mobility vehicle; AC-X show car; Micro Commuter Concept and the EV-Ster electric roadster. The background story on these mobility concepts and vehicles - all told by some of the designers responsible for the projects - can be viewed by clicking on a tab available on the page.