Giugiaro honored in Korean ceremony

Giorgetto Giugiaro has received honors from the South Korean Government for his contribution to the nation's fledgling automotive industry.  In a ceremony in Seoul, Giugiaro received the prestigious 'Order of Merit' from the President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-bak. The relationship between Italdesign Giugiaro and Korea stretches back to the 1970s, a period of significant growth for the Korean nation, stifled only by its lackluster automotive industry.  It fell to the Italian designer to invigorate an industry that survived on reassembling and rebranding foreign domestic models. Giugiaro's solution was the simple Hyundai Pony.

New Jaguar XJC – the Coupe

Jaguar already has a new Jaguar XJC on the drawing board – a coupe version of the new Jaguar XJ The last Jaguar XJC was in the ’70s, and was built on the SWB version of the Series II Jaguar XJ.  In fact – by the time Jaguar got round to launching the XJC on to the market in 1975 – it was the only XJ that had the SWB, as all XJ saloons had moved over to the LWB as standard. A glorious-looking car – especially in ‘New Avengers’ guise as driven by Steed – it was plagued by the problems that beset British Leyland at the time.

Bentley SUV will be the Bentley Falcon

It looks like Bentley has come up with a name for its SUV – Bentley Falcon - and, as expected, it will get a complete redesign before it arrives. But it now seems that VW has bitten the bullet on the Bentley SUV and signed it off for production, when it will apparently come complete with a new Bentley name – Bentley Falcon. The news of a name for Bentley’s luxury off-roader comes from Georg Kacher writing in Automobile Magazine and, although it perhaps doesn’t resonate particularly in the UK, it will probably have more impact on the target market for the SUV – the Middle East – where the Falcon is a big deal.