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Interior Motives Conference 2012 Day 1

The annual Interior Motives China conference - this year held in Beijing to coincide with the motor show - was opened by the official Yang Shi Min. He welcomed the many delegates by acknowledging that discussion and debate will be the key element in the future of automotive design. He stated his belief that "discussion gives the opportunity for wisdom to sparkle", and opened the proceedings by encouraging all to share their wisdom with each other.

2014 Kia Sportage gets a mild facelift

2014 Kia Sportage (pictured) gets a mild facelift The Kia Sportage is Kia’s best-selling model in the UK, and Kia are keen to keep things that way so they’ve given the Sportage a bit of a tweak for 2014. The changes are quite modest – just enough to mark this Sportage as a 2014 model – with a new version of the ‘Tiger Nose’ grill with added chrome and restyled mesh, better back lights, new 16-18″ alloys and LED tail lights on the top-end models. The interior has been given a bit of a lift too with new soft touch trim on the doors, nano paint finish on the dashboard and centre console, heated steering wheel and electric driver’s seat on top-end models and repositioned audio tweeters for better sound.

Mazda reveals Mazda2 EV with range-extender Wankel rotary engine

Mazda reveals Mazda2 EV with range-extender Wankel rotary engine It’s long seemed logical that a compact Wankel rotary engine – running at a constant speed – would be a great way of fitting electric cars with a range-extender option. Audi flirted with the idea of fitting the A1 e-tron with a Wankel engine a couple of years ago, but that got shelved. And Mazda – keepers of the Wankel flame – came up with the idea of a Wankel engine bolted in to an EV and powered by hydrogen last year, but it seems to0 have gone nowhere.