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Call for Entries: CDN-GM Interactive Design Competition 2012

With temperatures soaring across North America, there's no better time to hunker down in an air-conditioned room with your pen, vellum, and markers (or, more realistically, your computer and tablet) and get working on your entries into the GM Interactive Design Competition 2012.  It's only been a month since the official launch of the 2012 GM Interactive Design Competition and we're already seeing strong participation and a very high level of quality for the entries. Open to all full-time college or university students from across the US and Canada, this competition is a great way to gain exposure, but also to keep up and improve your skills over the summer. With five paid internships (housing included) at GM's studios in Warren, MI up for grabs, there's no better launchpad for your career in the automotive industry, and getting your entries online early also gives you a head-start on the competition by allowing the public and mentors to critique and review your work.

Audi shifts to eight-speeds for most models

A formal press conference probably won't happen until this summer, but we hear that Audi dealers have received their 2011 order guides, and it looks as though the company will be going from 0 to about 70 percent of U.S. sales being eight-speed automatic transmissions. Beginning this fall, the eight-speed will replace today's six-speed automatic in the A4 2.0-liter turbo sedan and wagon, the A5 2.0-liter turbo coupe and cabriolet, the Q5 2.0-liter turbo, the Q7 3.0-liter turbo, the Q7 diesel, the Q7 with the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and the all-new A8 and A8L with the 4.2-liter V8.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento concept

Lamborghini revealed the hugely anticipated Sesto Elemento concept at the 2010 Paris motor show. Based on the Gallardo supercar, the Sesto Elemento (six elements in the Italian sports car maker's native tongue) is a technological marvel, created entirely in carbon fiber to bring the vehicle's overall weight down to less than 1000kg. Read our opinions of the Sesto Elemento concept in our 2010 Paris Motor Show Highlights, and see the photo gallery (which includes all six teaser photos) by clicking the link below.