Chevrolet to pull out of Europe

General Motors is ‘strengthening’ its ‘European brand strategy’ by pulling Chevrolet out of mainstream markets in Western and Eastern Europe. This is ‘largely due to a challenging business model and the difficult economic situation’ – but does not mean that Chevrolet is set to disappear entirely. On Bing: see pictures of European Chevrolets Find out how much a used Chevrolet costs on Auto Trader Instead, Chevrolet ‘tailor its presence’ by offering only select ‘iconic’ vehicles from the marque’s global portfolio.

New BMW 4-series Gran Coupé: OFFICIAL

The BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe (pictured) has been officially revealed The new BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe leaked out yesterday ahead of an official reveal by BMW, but that leak has prompted BMW to action and we get the official reveal today, probably sooner than BMW had intended. Looking like a shrunken 6-Series Gran Coupe – and visually similar to the 3-Series saloon too – the 4 Series Gran Coupe gets a liftback tailgate similar to the 3-Series Gran Turismo to differentiate the 4-Series Gran Coupe from the 3-Series saloon and add to its appeal. The profile is more swoopy too with a short glasshouse, smaller frameless rear doors and comes in 14mm longer and wider – and 40mm lower – than the 3-Series, and gets the same chassis as the 4-Series Coupe with a wheelbase of 2810mm.

Michelin Challenge Design 2009 preview

Michelin is continuing to profile the work of some of the leading contenders for its annual Michelin Challenge Design competition, which asks the design community to come up with proposals for "America's Next Iconic Vehicle". All 11 of the scale models and 24 two-dimensional drawings in the running will be exhibited at the 2009 NAIAS in January. Earlier this month, we featured three of these scale models following their selection by a jury of top automotive designers.