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Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.

New (2013) Skoda Octavia Estate: Price from £16,790

The new Skoda Octavia Estate has had its official debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, and Skoda has revealed it will cost from £16,790 The new Octavia Estate gets a choice of four engine options – two petrol and two diesel – with the 1.2 TSI 105PS, 1.4 TSI 140PS, 1.6 TDI CR 105 PS and 2.0 TDI CR 150PS offering a decent set of everyday choices all of which come with a standar manual ‘box, although you can spec the diesel engines with a DSG ‘box. Trim levels mimic those of the Octavia hatch, with S, SE and Elegance. The Octavia S Estate comes with 16″ alloys, Bluetooth, DAB, electric front windows, Climate, Stop-Start and Touchscreen.

Watch new Mercedes C-class, GLA45 AMG and S600: VIDEO

We got our first look at the new 2015 Mercedes C-class sedan last month in a series of photographs released by the German automaker. The new car does a great impression of a baby S-class with a strong front end, plenty of side-sculpting and a gentle slope to the rear, exemplified in the video above. We also get a peek at the new GLA45 AMG sport compact crossover and the S600 giant killer, all in motion.