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Detroit Auto Show roundup

The 2012 NAIAS in Detroit, MI has proved to be exactly the dose of salts the US auto industry so desperately needed after a few very lean years for the event. Numerous concept and production cars made their debuts in the halls of COBO and, as ever, Car Design News was on hand to provide our in-depth live show coverage. Here's a full rundown of our reportage from NAIAS 2012: Acura Acura NSX Concept: Living up to the name Cadillac Cadillac ATS: Finally breaking into the premium mainstream?

General Motors design landmark gets second life--as a school

"The profession was invented in this room,” says Richard Rogers, president of the College for Creative Studies (CCS), as he stands in the dusty construction site that used to be the General Motors Argonaut Building. “And this is where Harley Earl's office was.” Looking across the top floor of the building, it is easy to see a circle of concrete like the landing mark of a flying saucer. The circle is the remnant of an early platform for clay models, developed here for the first time as design tools for mass-production autos.

Fiat Panda Cross comes to the UK

By Tom Richards Motor Industry 11 August 2008 13:04 Finally Fiat is launching the Panda Cross in the UK. It's essentially a plastic addenda-clad version of the existing Panda 4x4, but the Cross has so far only been available in mainland Europe. Like the exisiting Panda 4x4 it features a permanent four-wheel drive system and an electronic differential lock, so should you choose to take the fields home, traction won’t be a problem. But the Panda Cross also gets new round front and rear lights, chunky side sills in contrasting colours to the body, new bumpers, 15-inch alloys and a two-tone interior.