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College Exhibition: IED Fiat/Chrysler project

Second year students at the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Turin, Italy, recently completed a Fiat/Chrysler sponsored project, which began in February 2009. Conceived as a didactic exercise to think about the recent alliance between Fiat and Chrysler, 37 students were asked to design a vehicle capable of combining the technical know-how, platforms and values of both brands in order to generate interesting and competitive new products for the European and the American markets. In creating their concepts, students were asked to take into account the style, economic accessibility and the low environmental impact of Fiat vehicles as well as the new platforms and major industrial and production capacity afforded by the Italian automaker's alliance with the Chrysler brand.

Fewer people being killed in car-truck collisions, study finds

Death rates in crashes between big trucks and cars dropped 64 percent in 2008-09 compared with 2000-01, according to an insurance-industry study of government data. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety cited changes in vehicle design, particularly for SUVs and pickups, as a key factor in the decline. The number of deaths for car and minivan passengers involved in crashes with larger vehicles fell from 44 per million in 2000-01 to 16 deaths per million in 2008-09, the study found.

Honda previews new 2012 CR-V

Honda is injecting a fresh attitude--and buffer body--into the 2012 CR-V set to go on sale later this year. The company released a photo of a concept that features bolder headlights, a three-bar grille and more pronounced flowing lines. There are also five-spoke alloy wheels and bolder fender flares.