Ford Motor Company design chief J Mays to be based in London

J Mays, Ford Motor Company group vice president for design, will be moving from the US to London in February and adding a new title: Chief Creative Officer. The new posting will allow Mays to work more closely with designers at Ford's Premier Automotive Group, including Ian Callum at Jaguar, Geoff Upex at Land Rover and Volvo's next design head. He will spend about 10 days a month in Dearborn with the North American design team.

Ford Focus ST: Get yer trousers on – you’re nicked!

Ford Focus ST - filming in The Sweeney We had the arrival of the production version of the Ford Focus ST at the Frankfurt show in September, and it is due to arrive in 2012 – as is a film version of the iconic 1970s TV show about the Met’s Flying Squad – The Sweeney. The Sweeney – for those not old enough to remember – was a 1970s police TV drama starring the late John Thaw and Dennis Waterman as Reagan and Carter – real-life Life on Mars cops; hard-drinking, chain smoking and with a complete disregard for the rules. The Sweeney featured Ford cars front and centre, with DI Reagan driven around in a Ford Consul GT and sidekick Carter foisted in to a Cortina when Reagan sent him off on his own.

Fans get chance to drive with Top Gear's The Stig

FANS OF BBC hit Top Gear will be able to experience the white-knuckle thrill of spinning round the programme's test track driven by The Stig, as well as driving laps themselves. The corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide is allowing viewers to be in the driving - or passenger - seat by launching a series of high-speed attractions at Dunsfold Park in Surrey, at which the programme is filmed. They can follow in the tyre tracks of celebrities such as Tom Cruise or Benedict Cumberbatch by trying out the "star in a reasonably priced car" course in a Kia Cee'd, just like those used on the BBC2 programme under the eye of a professional driver.