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Designer insights: highlights of Auto Design Prague 2014

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, might not seem the most obvious choice for an automotive design conference. But when one considers the country's history of innovation in the arts and architecture, its long-lived automotive marques like Tatra and Skoda, and Prague's central location in Europe, it makes perfect sense. Conference speakers included the program design director for Citroën DS, Ivo Groen; Volvo vice president of design Thomas Ingenlath; Jaguar advanced design director, Julian Thomson; Gert Hildebrand, head of design for Qoros; and Johann Lemercier, program manager at Ferrari design.

Redesigned Mercedes-Benz M-class takes to the road for testing

Mercedes-Benz gave its M-class SUV a mild freshening last year. But a more-thorough makeover is on the way two years from now for the 2012 model. These prototypes--the first we've seen of the new M-class--are wearing a lot of camouflage, but through the nose opening we spy a sharper grille design that looks similar to the GLK.

New Jaguar XJR will see the end of the XJ SuperSport

The launch of the new 2013 Jaguar XJR at the New York Auto Show this week heralds the end of the line for Jaguar’s other Supercharged V8 XJ – the SuperSport. With a much more fulsome 542bhp, some very ‘Jaguar’ go-faster bits, some proper fettling to make the steering, gearbox and suspension focus more on the drive without making a mess of the ride and altogether more dynamism in prospect than the SuperSport, we’d assumed Jaguar were making the XJR the performance pinnacle of the XJ range and leaving the SuperSport in place as the ‘luxury’ alternative. With that thought in mind we’d expected to see Jaguar push the price of the new XJR up towards the XJ Ultimate (which costs £121,000), so count us gobsmacked when Jaguar revealed the new XJR will cost from £92,335 – just £500 more than the SuperSport.