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Local Motors 'Design Our Car' competition opens

Local Motors has opened its first-ever ‘Design Our Car' competition, which encourages collaboration within the manufacturing community. The open-source automaker is providing two of its Rally Fighter cars, one of which will be built at the company's micro-factory in Arizona while the other will be built live in the Emerging Technology Center at September's International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Ideas from the design and engineering community are being sought to help design and select a skin for the Rally Fighter that will be built by the Local Motors team this spring.

Detroit Auto Show: Volvo S60 sedan

Showing a new direction inspired by Scandinavian design, Volvo displayed a concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show that previews the new S60 sedan, due in 18 months. The car has a new face--with angled headlamps, a coupe roofline and no B-pillar--and an interior with the "environment of a modern Scandinavian living room," said Steve Mattin, Volvo senior vice president of design. The car's more emotional look is part of a longer-term strategy to give Volvo a more exciting image in the United States through changes in product design and marketing, said Stephen Odell, CEO of Volvo Car Corp.

Subaru BRZ (2012) - more on FT-86's shy sister

Since the joint venture between Toyota and Subaru was announced in 2009, we've seen four concept cars from Toyota of its version, the FT-86/Scion FR-S. But barring some unfortunate-looking Impreza based engineering mules, we've yet to see the Subaru edition. That situation didn't change at the recent 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, where Subaru once again exhibited the rear-drive platform of what we now know will be called the BRZ with a transparent bodyshell rather than production panels.