New Land Rover Concept at Frankfurt – Project Icon lives?

New Land Rover Defender Concept expected at Frankfurt Last week AE ran a report that suggested Land Rover were considering dumping the iconic Defender from their range as it was perhaps too difficult to find a cost-effective way to update it. Which we didn’t buy for a minute. As far as we can see, the Land Rover Defender is so iconic that Tata would have to find a way to keep it viable and in production even if they lost money on every Defender they built.

Show Review: 100% Design 2005

London has recently hosted 100% Design, the city's response to the Milan Furniture Show that currently dominates the product design calendar. Just as the Italians have spread their show over the city, Londoners have begun to do the same, introducing 100% East in the arty East End, and using more floorspace at Earls Court, the exhibition centre that formerly hosted the British Motor Show. 100% Design is complemented at Earls Court by 100% Detail and 100% Material.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class

The rather unloved yet brilliantly packaged Mercedes B-Class will enter its second generation at next month's Frankfurt motor show. Gone, sadly, is the ingenious sandwich floor construction, replaced by a conventional front-drive platform. The result is a reduction in height by 48mm to 1557mm, while length has grown by 89mm and width by 11mm.