2009 Mazda Tribute Audio Equipment Display Screen Monitor 9l8t-19c116-aa on 2040-parts.com

Who's Where: John Puskar and Liz Wetzel appointed to new roles at GM Design

As part of an ongoing strategy at General Motors, this past month has seen a series of moves taking place within the company's design organization in Europe and the US. Two of the key changes have been the appointment of John Puskar to the role of Director of Cross-Brand Strategy, C&T and Components in North America, and that of Liz Wetzel, who has been named Director of GME Design Interior – effectively filling Puskar's role. Puskar, who until recently headed the Opel/Vauxhall Interior Design at the European Design Center in Russelsheim, Germany, majored in Industrial Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art and worked at Ford in both the USA and Germany before joining General Motors as a creative designer at the GMC Brand Center in 1999.

Fiat 500XL spied undisguised – it’s not a looker

The Fiat 500 range has already expanded from the very successful recreation of the original 500 in to something bigger and more family friendly with the 500L, and now we have the joy of an even bigger version on the way – the Fiat 500XL. The 500L managed to lose almost all of the chic retro appeal the 500 managed so convincingly, and it looks like the 500XL goes a step further, with looks that only its mother could love. Grafting an extra 200mm on the back of the 500L perhaps seems like a good idea, but the execution doesn’t sit well.

Audi A1 quattro prototype

The Audi A1 quattro snow testing in Canada It did seem a strange omission by Audi not to have a quattro drivetrain for the ‘Only Premium Brand in its Sector’ Audi A1. And it was that lack of a quattro system for the A1 which apparently stopped the car that ended up being the Audi A1 1.4 TFSI from being launched as the Audi S1 at Paris last year. All of which has no doubt spurred Audi on to see development of a quattro platform for the A1.