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Understanding design for China

With the entire automotive world focusing on China at present, Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (SD) has announced the creation of a new graduate program following that trend. The MDes Design Practices scheme will focus upon transportation design issues in China, as well as the growing economies of Asia. The ten month program aims to familiarize students with the emerging trends and issues that are directly impacting and influencing transport in the Peoples Republic.

2012 Volvo S60 & XC60 R-Design get more oomph

Volvo V60 R-Design - finally, more get up and go We’re quite partial to the Volvo S60 (actually, we’re even more partial to the Volvo V60) and we like how Volvo’s R-Design pack makes a real impact without making the car look like a boy racer’s wet dream. What’s also nice – in this age of parsimony – is that even if you opt for a lowly diesel version you can still have a Volvo that looks like it gets there in a hurry, even if it doesn’t. But our preference is always for a bit more power, especially if all the visual cues make you smile in anticipation, so we have been know to bemoan the lack of any sort of power boost – even as an add-on option – on Volvo’s R-Design cars.

UK new car registrations up again in July

New car registrations in the UK have risen for the fifth month running, with a total of 143,884 new cars registered in July 2012. The UK is continuing to buck the European trend with new car registrations up by 9.3 per cent in July (2102) to 143,884 according to new figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That figure is the largest sales volume of 2012 and is the fifth month in a row that new car registrations have risen, despite economic woes and the Eurozone crisis, and brings registrations in 2012 to 1,201,564 so far, leading the SMMT to increase their prediction for 2012 sales upwards to 1.97 million.